he 4th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA) was held November 7–9, 2016, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. WiPDA is a fast-growing annual event with a focus on wide bandgap device development, applications of wide bandgap power devices, and related topics. This workshop, sponsored by IEEE and PSMA, provides a forum for device scientists, circuit designers, and application engineers from the IEEE Power Electronics and Electron Devices Societies to share technology updates, research findings, development experience, and ideas for novel applications. Topics of interest at WiPDA include:

• Heteroepitaxial & Bulk Materials Growth
• Gate Dielectrics & Surface Passivation
• Device Structures & Fabrication Techniques
• Device Characterization & Modeling
• Very High Efficiency and Compact Converters
• Safe Operating Areas of Wide Bandgap Devices, Including Short Circuit, Spike, & Transient Tolerance
• Harsh Environments (e.g. High Temperature) Operation & Reliability
• Packaging, Power Modules, & ICs
• Hard-Switched & Soft-Switched Application Analysis
• Gate Drive & Other Auxiliary Circuits
• High-Performance Passive Components
• Applications in Renewable Energy & Energy Storage, Transportation, Industrial Drives, & Grid Power Systems
• Wide-Band Gap System Design Philosophies & Strategies

The number of WIPDA attendees has grown quickly over the last four years, with attendees coming from multiple disciplines including materials science, device fabrication, and device application. Two hundred attendees participated in the workshop this year, including 105 from industry and 95 from academia or other research institutions. Of the 200 attendees, 165 were from the US and 35 were international.

WiPDA 2016 maintained the program from previous years and included tutorials, keynote sessions, university lab tours, a panel discussion, technical sessions, an exhibition, and, of course, a banquet at the University of Arkansas' Razorback Stadium! The banquet also included the workshop's poster session. The university lab tours included UA's High Density Electronics Center (HiDEC), their wide bandgap power packaging facilities, and the National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission (NCREPT), which is a 6 MVA/15 kV test facility. Further, IEEE's International Technology Roadmap for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors (ITRW) working group met at the workshop, as did JEDEC's working group on GaN power device reliability (GaNSPEC) to leverage the knowledge of the workshop attendees.

Keynote Talks and Technical Sessions

WiPDA has gained strong support from government agencies, academic institutions, and industry-leading companies, both nationally and internationally. This year's workshop featured keynote speakers from Wolfspeed, Ford, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Sandia National Laboratories, PowerAmerica, GaN Systems, MIT, Navitas, Eta-One, and Lockheed-Martin. They shared their views from different perspectives as the device manufacturer, the equipment designer, the researcher, and the system integrator. The technical program consisted of three parallel tracks of talks covering topics ranging from the physics of wide bandgap materials and devices, through wide bandgap power modules and circuits, to large-scale applications of such circuits.

Tutorial Sessions and Panel Discussion

There were two tutorial tracks encompassing four topics: SiC devices, GaN devices, device characterization, and applications of WBG devices. Speakers from Monolith Semiconductor, Infineon, and General Electric shared their knowledge concerning development of both SiC and GaN device applications, reliability considerations, and qualification, and engineers from Keysight covered techniques and tips related to accurate measurement of wide bandgap power devices and efficiency improvement of power circuits built from such devices. The panel discussion featured experts from industry, academia, and government, and addressed topics related to the supply-chain and manufacturing of wide bandgap devices, as well as their adoption by the power electronics community.

Student Travel Grants

Also this year, WiPDA provided travel grants of $625 per awardee to encourage student participation. 16 students received these awards, out of a total of 60 student participants.
All presented papers will be included in the conference proceedings and submitted to the databases of IEEExplore.

WiPDA 2017 will be hosted from Oct 30th to Nov 1st, by Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, USA. We look forward to your participation at next year's exciting event!

Provided by Dr. Fang Luo, Publicity Chair WiPDA 2016

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