he 4th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA) will be held on Nov. 7–9, 2016, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. WiPDA is a fast-growing yearly event with its focus on wide bandgap devices development, application and related topics. This workshop provides a forum for device scientists, circuit designers, and application engineers from the Power Electronics and Electron Devices Societies to share technology updates, research findings, development experience and potential applications. The number of WIPDA attendees grew from 130 to more than 200 within the last three years, and the attendees are from multiple disciplines including materials science, device fabrication and device application. Topics of interests of WiPDA include:

• Heteroepitaxial & Bulk Materials Growth
  
• Gate Dielectrics & Surface Passivation
  
• Device Structures & Fabrication Techniques
  
• Device Characterization & Modeling
  
• Very-High Efficiency Or Compact Converters
  
• Safe Operating Areas Of Wide Bandgap Devices, Including Short Circuit, Spike, &Transient Tolerance
  
• Harsh Environment (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

WiPDA has gained strong support from government agencies, prestigious academic institutions, and industry leading companies, nationally and internationally. Previously, attendees from the Office of Naval Research and Department of Energy shared their opinions in the development of wide bandgap devices in both keynote speeches and panel sessions. There are attendees from more than 20 companies that have participated in this workshop in technical sessions, tutorial sessions, panel sessions, keynote sessions, as well as in exhibitions. The participated companies include, but are not limited to: ABB, APEI, Avogy, Booz Allen Hamilton, Clinch, Cree, Caterpillar, Dow Corning Corporation, Epiluvac, EPRI, Exide Technologies, Ford, GE, International Rectifier, Monolith Semiconductor, Nippon Chemi-Con Corporation, NREL, ON Semiconductor, NRL, ORNL, PowerRox LLC, ROHM, Sandia National Laboratory, Texas Instruments, Toyota North America, Transphorm, United Silicon Carbide and UTRC.

WiPDA 2016 will maintain a similar workshop arrangement including tutorials, keynote sessions, university lab tours, a panel discussion, a series of technical sessions, an exhibition, and, of course, a nice social dinner at the football stadium (Razorback stadium)! We will have keynote speakers from Texas Instruments, GaN Systems, Wolfspeed, PowerAmerica, ARL, Ford, Lockheed Martin, and the Electric Power Research Institute. They will share their views with different perspectives as the device manufacturer, the equipment designer, and the system integrator. There will be two tracks for tutorial sessions this year with four topics: SiC devices, GaN devices, device characterization, and applications of WBG devices. The university lab tours will include the UA’s High Density Electronics Center, their wide bandgap power packaging facilities, and the National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission, their 6 MVA/15 kV test facility. Further, the Power Electronics Society’s working group on the International Technology Roadmap for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors (ITRW) will meet on Sunday, November 6, prior to the workshop.

WiPDA 2016 plans to provide student travel grants this year to further support student participation. All presented papers will be included in the conference proceedings and submitted to the databases of IEEExplore. Important dates of this event include:

− Two Page Abstract: July 10, 2016
− Notification of Acceptance: August 21, 2016
− Final Paper Submission: September 25, 2016
− Technical Oral & Dialogue Sessions: November 8th-9th, 2016.

More details can be found on the workshop website www.wipda2016.org. We are looking forward to meeting you in Fayetteville, Arkansas in November!

Provided by Dr. Fang Luo, Publicity Chair WiPDA 2016

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