In an electrified world, power electronics represent a vital enabling technology behind cleaner energy systems, electric mobility, data centers, and more. By efficiently controlling and converting electrical power, power electronics maximize performance while minimizing energy consumption across countless applications. With skyrocketing global electricity usage, power electronics play an essential role in supporting sustainable growth. Recent advances are driving size reductions, cost savings, and efficiency improvements at all power levels. Let’s explore the innovations in materials, topology, packaging, and control pushing power electronics forward.
Wide Bandgap Semiconductors Unlock Potential
The unique properties of wide bandgap materials like silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are revolutionizing power electronics. Compared to conventional silicon, these materials offer superior breakdown strength, thermal conductivity, and high-temperature operation. Their physical advantages translate to substantial performance gains for power semiconductors.
For instance, GaN field-effect transistors (FETs) switch up to 20X faster than silicon equivalents with far lower conduction and switching losses. GaN Systems founder Girvan Patterson highlights wide bandgaps as the foremost reason: “You need high electric fields to switch at high frequencies, and the breakdown voltage capability is what allows that.” These capabilities are enabling GaN to penetrate applications from EV chargers to solar inverters to data center power supplies.
Meanwhile, SiC excels for the highest voltage and current devices above 600V. According to Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe, SiC MOSFETs and diodes feature “75 percent lower switching losses and 80 percent reduction in conduction losses” versus silicon. Their exceptional thermal performance also boosts power density. These advantages have already made SiC devices prevalent in electric vehicle drivetrains and renewable energy converters.
Looking ahead, Wolfspeed aims to further improve SiC switches to hit 99 percent efficiency—“effectively eliminating switching losses,” as Lowe states. More abundant and affordable SiC wafers will also help slash costs 50 percent by 2024. Such progress will expand adoption across automotive, aerospace, and industrial markets. Beyond SiC, gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is an emerging ultra-wide bandgap material that promises small, fast power switches operating up to 15kV.
Topological Optimization and Packaging
Besides materials, power electronics advances also require optimizing device layouts and packages. The goal is minimizing parasitic losses while keeping components compact and manufacturable. Topology optimization tools now leverage powerful simulations to automatically generate efficient, organic designs superior to hand-crafted counterparts.
For instance, software company Menhir Photonics applies auto-generated structures to improve thermal management in GaN devices. As CEO Yevgeniy Raitses explains, “We can sculpt at the micron scale to tailor where heat enters and flows. The shapes we create are hard to manufacture otherwise.” Adopting topological optimization could boost power density over 25 percent in some applications. Menhir Photonics is already partnering with automotive and consumer electronics brands to integrate the technology into upcoming products.
Likewise, advanced power packaging techniques are equally indispensable—interconnects and wire bonds can easily consume over 30 percent of losses. Karen Saedler from ETH Zurich studies integrated power modules that incorporate passives, logic, and connections onto compact multi-layer substrates. Such “smart power modules” minimize parasitics and form factors. Saedler shares that “new interconnect methods like press-fit pins allow packing 5-10X higher power densities” for EVs and renewable energy hardware. Further incorporating wide bandgap devices unlocks 30 percent lighter electric drivetrains and up to 8 percent longer EV driving range from efficiency gains.
AI Control Algorithms Improve Performance
Controlling power electronics has also proven fertile ground for AI integration to boost metrics like efficiency, reliability, and power quality. Machine learning techniques can capture nuances of device behavior and operating conditions compared to rule-based controllers. According to Columbia University electrical engineer Matei Ionita, “AI accounts for aging and variability between fabricated devices that humans cannot model easily.”
For example, Ionita’s group developed neural network controllers reducing inverter power losses over 6 percent on average versus standard linear controllers. Their approach improved perturb and observe MPPT by better adapting to solar panel aging and weather changes. Such AI controllers can transfer from simulations to experimental rigs and then final products without alteration.
Likewise, Toyota Research Institute and universities including MIT trained deep neural networks as predictive gate drivers. By optimizing timing adaptively, Toyota lifted power converter efficiency 2.2 percent beyond conventionally controlled systems. Researchers at Berkeley applied similar machine learning concepts to model and compensate for crosstalk in GaN transistors operating at VHF frequencies. Intelligent power electronics leverage data to balance tradeoffs between efficiency, EMI, reliability, and bandwidth dynamically.
Future Concepts and Applications
Power electronics already underpin technologies transforming society, while ongoing research promises continuing advances. For example, DARPA’s CRAFT program aims to develop thermal-management techniques enabling 2-3X power density increases. Better cooling will facilitate integrating more functionality into less space. Project manager Paul Werbos confirms, “We expect to achieve much higher power densities while using less rare earth materials.” Resource conservation aligns with power electronics’ role in enabling larger energy efficiency gains.
Another futuristic concept from Oak Ridge National Lab is using 3D printing to prototype novel power device designs quickly. According to project leader Madhu Chinthavali, “Additive manufacturing can fabricate structures almost impossible through conventional semiconductor processing.” 3D-printed electromagnetic converters may one day support applications from GW-scale power grids to miniature medical implants.
Power electronics already impact our lives profoundly—from smartphones to electric cars to renewable power generation. Their capabilities expand continually, driving innovations not just in engineering but across business and society. As Arm executive Rob Aitken remarks, “More and more, power electronics define what a company can build.” With climate change pressures mounting, power electronics will remain a critical piece of building decarbonized and resilient energy infrastructure. Efficiency and power density gains will open doors to technologies not yet envisioned. The foundations underpinning future economies depend on power electronics’ continual progress.
