JEDEC wide-bandgap power semiconductor committee publishes first document

The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association (which develops standards for the microelectronics industry) says that its newest main committee, JC-70 (Wide Bandgap Power Electronic Conversion Semiconductors’), has issued its first publication - JEP173: Dynamic On-Resistance Test Method Guidelines for GaN HEMT Based Power Conversion Devices - available for free download from its website.

JEP173 addresses a key need of the user community of gallium nitride (GaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs), namely a method for the consistent measurement of drain-to-source resistance in the ON-state (RDS(ON)) encompassing dynamic effects. These dynamic effects are characteristic of GaN power FETs, and the value of the resulting measured R DS(ON) is method dependent.

“JEP173 demonstrates how quickly the GaN industry came together to address this important topic and begin to establish standards across suppliers for datasheet, qualification and test methods,” says JC-70’s chair Stephanie Watts Butler, technology innovation architect at Texas Instruments. “The release of JEP173 will help accelerate industry-wide adoption of GaN by ensuring consistency across the supplier base.”

Formed in October 2017 with 23 member companies, JC-70 now has over 50 member companies, underscoring industry interest in the development of universal standards to help advance the adoption of wide-bandgap (WBG) power technologies. Global multi-national corporations and technology startups from the USA, Europe, Middle East and Asia are working together to bring to the industry a set of standards for reliability, testing and parametrics of WBG power semiconductors. Committee members include industry leaders in power GaN and SiC semiconductors, as well as prospective users of wide-bandgap power devices, and test & measurement equipment suppliers. Technical experts from universities and national labs also provided inputs into the new JEP173 guideline.

“Strong commitment from the committee members was required to complete this work to set up universal standards to help advance the adoption of wide-bandgap power technologies,” comments Tim McDonald, senior advisor to Infineon’s CoolGaN program and the chair of the JC-70.1 subcommittee. “Our Task Groups are diligently making progress on other key GaN and SiC guidelines in the areas of test, reliability and datasheets.”

Interested companies worldwide are welcome to join JEDEC to participate in the standardization effort. JC-70 plans to hold four committee meetings in 2019, including a meeting co-located with the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC 2019) in Anaheim, CA, USA on 18 March.

See related items:

JEDEC’s new committee for wide-bandgap power semiconductors invites industry participation

JEDEC forms committee to set standards for wide-bandgap power semiconductors

Tags: Power electronics GaN SiC

Visit: www.jedec.org