1. APEC 2021 – Turning Out to be One Cool Event
   
2. 2020 PSMA Virtual Planning Meeting
   
3. Message from the PSMA Executive Committee
   
4. Meet Your Directors
   
5. About Our Members
   
6. Friends of PSMA
   
7. Welcome to PSMA
   
8. In the Beginning: Reminiscences from an early PSMA Board Member
   
9. Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop
   
10. Design Techniques for the 21st Century – Behind the Scenes Make Sure You Use the Correct Capacitor
    
11. 2021 International Power Supply-on-Chip (PwrSoC) Workshop, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Sponsored by PSMA and IEEE PELS
    
12. The Third International Symposium on 3D Power Electronics Integration and Manufacturing – 3D-PEIM
    
13. WiPDA 2021 Workshop: The 8th Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications
    
14. International Workshop on Integrated Power Packaging (IWIPP 2021)
    
15. 1980 - A Pivotal Point in the Power Industry!
    
16. Keeping Up with IEC 62368
    
17. Events of Interest – Mark Your Calendar

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.

Previous issues of update: Q1_2020 | Q2_2020 | Q3_2020

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PSMA UPDATE is published and distributed via e-mail quarterly by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association. Send editorial information and comments to:

Permission to reprint information and articles as published is granted: a courtesy line is appreciated.

Membership in PSMA is open to any organization or corporation involved in the power sources and supplies industry. For membership information, visit our website or contact us by fax, telephone or email.

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.

 

PEC 2021 is on schedule for early June in Phoenix. It is a great time to be in Arizona.  Yes, it's warm (maybe even hot) during the day but the evenings are cool and clear. The Phoenix Convention Center is a comfortable, climate-controlled facility where the technical sessions, industry sessions, professional education seminars and exhibits will all take place.

With the very encouraging news about the wide availability of multiple approved Covid-19 vaccines by early Spring, we expect the in-person event to be a lively and well-attended affair. Getting to Phoenix will very likely also be a bargain. Off-season travel to Phoenix is typically less expensive – airfares are lower, hotel rates are reduced.

Many companies are still restricting travel for employees but as we - globally - move out from under the cloud of this pandemic, this will surely change.

So just imagine getting back to APEC – meeting with industry colleagues, enhancing your knowledge about cutting edge technologies and applications, learning about the latest products and joining in-person, face-to-face meetings and social events.

PSMA and PELS will again be sponsoring two workshops, the sixth High Frequency Magnetics Workshop and the fourth Capacitor Workshop. For more information see the articles on each workshop in this issue of the UPDATE.

So, if you haven't already done so, put APEC 2021, from Wednesday June 9th through Saturday June 12th on your planning calendar. Let's make APEC 2021 the coolest event of the year.

Please visit the APEC website https://apec-conf.org/ for additional information and updates.

Provided by Greg Evans, APEC 2021 Publicity Chair

he 2020 PSMA Planning Meeting originally scheduled to be held face-to-face in Phoenix, AZ in conjunction with the APEC Program Planning Meeting was changed to a virtual format due to the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions. The PSMA Planning Meeting addresses the future direction of the organization and focuses on the major issues in the industry.  The objective is to identify programs for the next year that will continue to bring benefits to the membership. While it was disappointing not to be able to see everyone in person, the online format did create the opportunity for a strong showing of over 40 attendees.

PSMA President Fred Weber welcomed all attendees and reviewed the mission of the Association and presented the Chair's report on behalf of PSMA Chair Mike Hayes who was unable to attend. He discussed the Executive Committee's Vision for 2020-2025, including the Four Pillars for sustenance and smart growth:

• Keep the good stuff
• Become more applications and problems oriented 
• Define and integrate metrics to monitor the parameters that matter
• Engage more with stakeholders

The 2020-2022 Executive Committee has been very active, holding regular meetings about every 2 weeks. The committee roles have been better defined and expanded, with each Officer championing one of the Four Pillars. They continue to work with the PSMA Office to make sure that activities are aligned with the vision and strategy. A new feature "Message from the PSMA Executive Committee", was added to the newsletter earlier this year, and each quarter one of the Executive Committee members will give a brief update and a more detailed insight into some of their activities.

Fred Weber summarized the general health and status of the organization and recognized the outstanding contributions by the Technical Committees. There have been renewed efforts to increase the relationships and cooperation with other key industry organizations – most notably with IPC, iNEMI.and CPSS.  

Finally, he reviewed the vision to build on the 4 Pillars with strategic focus on IoT, smart mobility and storage.

Financial Forecast
Tim McDonald, Secretary/Treasurer, presented the 6-Quarter financial forecast for October 2020 – March 2022.  The financial forecast recognizes the negative impact of cancellation of the in-person APEC2020 and recognizes the challenges facing APEC2021.

In summary, the forecast projects that the near term will be a challenging time for PSMA. The forecast assumes member dues income and modest revenues from planned workshops and symposia in the coming year as well as the continuation of some of the current and ongoing special projects that promise to bring value to the membership and the industry. To maintain a positive financial position during the pandemic and recovery, PSMA will need to control costs and look for revenue opportunities in the interim.

KPIs-Metrics that Matter
Trifon Liakopoulos, PSMA Vice-President, discussed the work being planned to identify the KPIs – Key Performance Indicators - that are actionable and critical to the success of achieving the goals of the organization. The KPIs will be used to track and improve the activities of the Technical Committees, the effectiveness of the website, workshops, special projects and webinars as well as success in attracting new membership.

This is a work in process with the initial focus to identify and plan for the infrastructure (people, web management and responsibilities) that will enable us to gather the information to improve the performance and effectiveness of the organization.

Committee Updates
There was a report from each of the PSMA committees that summarized their accomplishments over the past year and focused on ongoing programs and projects for 2021. Nine of the committees have submitted proposals to organize Industry Sessions at APEC 2021 and all technical committees are supporting the 2022 Power Technology Roadmap effort. The committee reports each included information on how their activities align with the Four Pillars and strategic focus on IoT, smart mobility and storage.

In addition:

• Fred Weber, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reported the committee meets monthly with 10- 12 people attending. Wilmer Companioni is responsible for organizing the Industry Sessions, Pierre Lohrber is responsible for the annual Workshops, and Fred Weber for Webinars. The committee has sponsored a number of webinars in 2020, including the Capacitor Basics Series and for the Workshop and Industry Session planned for APEC2020. They gather feedback from attendees through surveys after each event. Recently the committee, in cooperation with the Energy Management Committee, supported the formation of an Energy Storage Subcommittee.
• Energy Storage Subcommittee Co-Chair Edward Schneider briefly reviewed the formation of the subcommittee. In addition to organizing an Industry Session for APEC 2021, the subcommittee is working with other PSMA Technical Committees to expand collaboration on the effort.
• Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chair Brian Zahnstecher reported that the committee continues to grow, with almost 50 people on the distribution list and 15 active members. The committee is planning a presentation on IoT at IPC APEX 2021. A White Paper subcommittee has been formed and meets bi-weekly with a target to publish in early 2021. EnerHarv 2020 was postponed due to COVID-19; planning for the next workshop will resume in the coming months.
• David Chen and Edward Herbert, Energy Management Committee Co-Chairs, reported that there are 24 people on the distribution list for the committee with 8 active members that participate in monthly meetings. The committee has increased collaboration with other committees and together with the Capacitor Committee, supports the Energy Storage sub-committee. The presentation included a brief review of the statistics for both the Energy Efficiency Data Base and the Safety and Compliance Data Base.
• John Horzepa reported while the Industry-Education Committee continues to support the student attendance program, the committee could not meet as planned at APEC2020 to continue the efforts to address a number of proposed initiatives to provide additional programs to encourage students to learn about and pursue a career in power electronics. He will be organizing a committee teleconference in the coming months and encouraged everyone at the meeting interested in contributing to efforts to support students who are the future Power Electronics professionals to contact the PSMA office.
• Magnetics Committee Co-Chairs George Slama and Ed Herbert reported that the committee is planning its fifth annual workshop at APEC 2021. The committee continues to collaborate with the Capacitor committee on the demonstration presentations for the workshops. Early this year, the committee presented 2 Magnetics Basics webinars and plans additional future webinars. The committee also recently completed the Phase II Core Loss Special Project, and the report is available to members on the PSMA website.
• Frank Cirolia and Greg Evans, Marketing Committee Co-Chairs, reviewed recent activities of the committee. For the first time, the committee is organizing an Industry Session at APEC 2021 focused on Market Trends. The committee does not plan to sponsor the PSMA/APEC Passport Program at APEC2021 but will reconsider for future events. The committee had been planning programs to celebrate PSMA turning 35 and the announcement of the Chuck Mullett Lifetime Achievement Award at APEC 2020 and are looking ahead to opportunities to promote these at APEC 2021.
• Brian Narveson and John Bultitude, Packaging Committee Co-Chairs, reported the committee has been very active in the past year. Because of the impact of Covid19, all of the planned events for 2020 have been postponed and are being rescheduled for 2021. A PwrSoC Corridor 3 Session Webinar Series is scheduled for November 2020. Projects for 2021 include IWIPP in Aalborg Denmark in April, the rescheduling of 3D-PEIM Symposium in Osaka and PwrSoC Workshop at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chairs Dhaval Dalal and Conor Quinn reported that due to the impact of Covid19, the next Roadmap will be delayed for one year and is now planned for 2022. The committee continues to identify volunteers to be co-chairs for select technology segments and will be holding meetings in the coming months to coordinate the content and format for the 2022 Roadmap.  The committee is encouraging the PSMA Technical Committees to identify topics and presenters for the PTR Webinar series.
• Reliability Committee Chair Brian Zahnstecher reported that the committee is looking for a co-chair to replace Tony O'Brien who recently retired. The Power Supply Communication Bus Reliability Special Project begun in late 2019 has been delayed and is being rescheduled. In addition, the committee is working with IEEE PELS to co-sponsor activities and is looking to attract more membership and contributions from Academia, National Labs and Users.
• John Horzepa reported that the Safety and Compliance Committee continues to seek volunteers to serve as co-Chairs and requested the group to suggest individuals from their organization that may be interested in contributing to the work of the committee. He plans to organize a committee meeting in the coming months. The committee continues to support and expand the Safety and Compliance Data Base on the PSMA website which is available to all PSMA members as well as to individuals in the power sources industry.
• Semiconductor Committee Co-Chairs Tirthajyoti Sarkar and Tim McDonald welcomed Reenu Garg as the committee's newest co-chair and reported that the Semiconductor Committee is very active with 5 to 10 members participating in the monthly meeting each month. The Committee had organized 4 industry sessions at APEC 2020 and were able to convert several of these presentations into webinars to support the 2022PTR. The committee is also considering creating a virtual tutorial for the industry.
• Ralph Taylor and Fred Weber, Transportation Electronics Committee Co-Chairs reported that committee is very active with 6-12 attendees at the monthly meetings. The committee has changed its name from Transportation Power Electronics to Transportation Electronics in order to include Autonomous Vehicle Technology. The committee continues to seek additional members from the Automotive industry segment and continues interaction with National Labs and other organizations involved with R&D projects in support of vehicle and transportation technologies.

Planning Exercise
There was a short break after the Committee Reports, and when the meeting reconvened, Fred Weber, PSMA President, led the planning exercise, introducing the "Power of the Pillars". During the first half of the meeting, he tracked the ideas brought up in the reports and split them into quick "Tiger Team" actions and long-term strategic issues. He opened the brainstorming session by reviewing the Four Pillars (Build on Strengths, Become more Applications Oriented, Integrate Metrics, Engage with Stakeholders) and inviting everyone at the meeting to suggest ideas for the coming year.

Building on the plans of the Technical Committees and the focus of the Executive Committee, and incorporating the ideas and suggestions from the brainstorming session, he compiled the following as the major activities for the coming year:

• Increasing Collaboration with iNEMI, IPC and other organizations
• Expanding relationship with PELS
• Refocus of the structure and content of the Power Technology Roadmap
• Focus on Autonomous vehicles and Smart mobility
• Focus on Storage technologies
• Increasing collaboration between Technical Committees

Summary and Close
Fred Weber thanked the attendees for their inputs and participation. PSMA members can view the minutes from the Planning Meeting in the Members Only section of the PSMA web site.

ithout a doubt we are approaching the end of a quite different and challenging year not only for our organization but also for all our member-companies and individuals who support, participate and volunteer for PSMA.  As the world and businesses continue adjusting to a new pandemic-imposed reality, PSMA not only confronted the challenges, but with creative and agile support of its numerous volunteers, the dedicated people who run the office, the board and the executive committee,  co-sponsors and partners responded with agility and creativity to minimize financial loss and risk, while maintaining the valuable services to its members and the community.

We at the executive committee are excited to implement and work in alignment with the newly adapted four pillars of our organization: (i) build on strengths, (ii) become more applications oriented, (iii) integrate performance metrics to assure value add to our community, and (iv) engage with the stakeholders.  Using these guidelines, we hope to drive success and growth of a more vibrant, more active, and more relevant PSMA.

As the member of the executive team who champions the third pillar, the implementation of key performance indicators throughout the operations and activities undertaken by PSMA, I hope to establish a measurable understanding of the "value-add" to "asset allocation" ratio in order to prioritize and improve the effectiveness of our efforts and resources.  Ahead of us is another financially challenging year and this task is critical for sustaining short- and long-term financial viability.

Some of the areas that we plan to implement performance metrics so that we can better understand impact on growth and revenue include:  membership movement comparable to the number of professionals in the industry, web activity tracking, differentiation and consumption of PSMA exclusive offerings such as special projects, reports, databases and other contributions as well as feedback received on our activities. 

We also plan to apply these metrics to activities related to popular workshops and webinars to maximize the value to our members and the wider power electronics industry, return on investment and exposure for PSMA. Remember, as a not for profit organization of volunteers, we need to spend our income from memberships, studies, and events prudently and maximize the use of in-kind human capital from our volunteers. We hope to expand the key performance indicators across the whole organization for example to support and help optimize the numerous committee efforts so as to attract more participation and increase activity.

The Executive Committee will not be able to establish, build and strengthen the performance metric pillar to become an impactful potency without the support and the collective effort of all the members and the volunteers of our organization.  We are encouraging all of you on an ongoing basis to provide feedback, thoughts, and new ideas as we continue to grow a successful PSMA.

Please feel free to contact me or any of the executive team members or the PSMA office anytime. We would love to hear from you and need your inputs!

Trifon Liakopoulos PSMA Vice President Enachip, Inc.

our members of the Board of Directors are elected at the PSMA Annual Meeting held every year during the APEC conference. Each Director serves a three year term and is eligible to be reelected for one additional term.

In this issue we would like to introduce you to Trifon Liakopoulos and Ralph Taylor who are both serving their first term.

Trifon Liakopoulos is a recognized Wafer Level Magnetics industry pioneer and an award-winning product innovator in the Power Supply on Chip industry sector. He is founder and CEO of Enachip an embedded and integrated magnetics technology platform startup company.  Prior of founding EnaChip, he was with Altera, Enpirion and Bell Labs.

Trifon co-founded Enpirion (now part of Intel) as a spinout from Bell Labs, a world leader company in power integration that successfully commercialized the world's first Power System on Chip (PwrSoC) products for consumer and industrial markets.

Trifon serves on the Board of Directors and as the Vice President of PSMA, is member of the PwrSoC international workshop steering committee, serves as board member of other technology startup companies and served on the board of  trustees of University of Ioannina. He received his PhD degree in microfabrication engineering (MEMS) and an MS in Physics from University of Cincinnati. His accomplishments include numerous publications, conference talks and over 20 patents.

Provided by Trifon Liakopoulos, Ph.D., President, CEO & co-Founder Enachip inc.

Working as part of a team in the electrification group, Ralph helped to developed power electronics for electric drive vehicles (EDVs), including battery management systems, system controllers that convert user inputs to torque commands, inverters for various EDVs including electric scooters, autos, heavy-duty trucks and off-road construction equipment. In addition, he helped to develop concepts for novel packaging of power devices. The design of most interest was a doubled sided cooled discrete power package which allowed Delphi to extract more heat per unit area than any of the competition at the time. This allowed for less silicon, smaller inverter packages and lower cost design of discrete power stages for EDV inverters.

Ralph has been the principal investigator, (PI), on several, successful DOE programs dealing with high temperature inverter designs and various dielectrics to be used to replace existing polypropylene capacitors within vehicle power electronics inverters. The goal is always the same for the DOE programs; lower the cost, make it smaller, improve the reliability and get it commercialized.

Ralph currently serves as a director of the Power Sources Manufactures Association (PSMA) as well as the Co-Chair of the Transportation Electronics Committee, involved with organizing session(s) on Transportation Electronics for the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC). He has 14 patents, with 2 more in process, and one defensive publication. He has been awarded the Boss Kettering Award as well as being admitted into the Delphi Innovation Hall of Fame.

Since retiring from Delphi, Ralph recently started a company, RST PEConsulting, LLC.

Provided by Ralph Taylor, Principal, RST PEConsulting, LLC

he National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) advances the science and engineering of energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and renewable power technologies and provides knowledge to integrate and optimize energy systems. Research areas include Renewable Power, Sustainable Transportation, Energy Efficiency, and Energy Systems Integration. As part of this mission, NREL has developed facilities to support the integration of energy systems. This includes facilities for high-performance computing, materials, power electronics, electric machines, transportation, power systems integration, and strategic energy analysis. NREL is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, with over 2,500 employees and over 40 years of research and innovation in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Accelerated drive-cycle platform for the combination of thermally induced stresses with humidity and vibration

Power electronics and electric machines play a critical role in controlling the flow of energy through sustainable energy systems for both stationary and mobile applications. Located within NREL's Center for Integrated Mobility Sciences, the Advanced Power Electronics and Electric Machines Group performs thermal, electrothermal, thermomechanical, and reliability research activities with an emphasis on power electronics and electric machines. NREL has developed significant analytical, numerical, and experimental thermal management experience and capabilities to provide rigorous performance measurements, technology demonstrations, reliability evaluations of innovative materials, surface enhancements, packages and modules, and heat exchanger design and development for electronics, power electronics, and electric machines. We employ these advancements to an array of energy efficiency, transportation, and renewable energy applications. As a leading laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy for electric drive thermal management, we support the integration of necessary cooling technologies to meet DOE's desire to develop robust and cost-effective traction drive power electronics and electric machines. Research focus areas include:

Thermal and Electrothermal Research Aspects in Power Electronics

• Research compact, power-dense wide-bandgap (WBG)-device-based power electronics
• Enable higher-temperature-rated devices, components, and materials
• Research advanced heat-transfer technologies
• Perform analysis and experiments for system-level thermal management

Advanced Packaging Designs and Reliability

• Improve reliability of new (high-temperature/WBG) technologies
• Develop predictive and remaining lifetime models
• Perform package parametric modeling

Electric Motor Thermal Management

• Enable higher voltages and frequencies
• Increase current density and power density
• Increase reliability
• Understand and evaluate material properties (thermal, mechanical, electrical) as a function of temperature
• Develop and evaluate advanced cooling strategies

For more information about Power Electronics and Electric Machines research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, visit https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/peem.html.

Provided by: Kevin Bennion and Sreekant Narumanchi,
Advanced Power Electronics and Electric Machines Group,
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

riends of PSMA is a new feature of the PSMA Update. This space will be used to introduce readers to organizations that PSMA has cooperative relationship with to better serve our respective memberships and the international power electronics industry. If you have suggestions on other industry organizations to consider or ways that we can improve our current relationship with other industry associations, we would be delighted to hear from you.

In this article we introduce you to the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI)

The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) is an industry-led consortium of electronics manufacturing companies along with universities, government agencies, national labs and research institutes. iNEMI's focus — along with their membership — encompasses the full electronics manufacturing value chain. By working collaboratively, their members leverage expertise and resources to enable the industry to tackle issues that no one organization can address efficiently alone — moving faster while also reducing the costs and risks of technology introduction.

Over the last 25 years, iNEMI has also regularly published an electronics manufacturing technology roadmap, an industry-wide effort involving members and non-members, which anticipates technology requirements over the next 10 years, identifies gaps in capabilities and standards, and identifies R&D priorities to meet the needs of future products and applications.

Based on information from the roadmap as well as member needs, iNEMI organizes collaborative projects to help eliminate gaps, accelerate innovation and ensure technology and supply chain readiness.

iNEMI collaborations cover a broad range of technology topics that range from evaluating industry capabilities, driving sustainability in electronics products and manufacturing, materials characterization for high volume manufacturing, reliability testing, demonstration of new technologies and identification of industry best practices. Examples of some of our latest collaborative projects are profiled below to show the breadth of the scope and industry engagement, as well as the level of technical work accomplished. See a listing of all iNEMI projects. https://community.inemi.org/projects_all

New Packaging Technology Qualification Methodology

Current package qualification methods are based on past test methods that do not always consider new use conditions and applications. This can result in higher risk and delays in terms of materials development and additional packaging qualification cycles. With industry input, this project team identified inconsistencies in qualification methodologies and confirmed the need for new test methods for applications in harsher environments. They recommended updates on test methods and qualification standards and developed guidelines and best practices for new package qualification across a broad range of applications.

Back End Commonality for Advanced Packaging: Large Form Factor

Advanced packaging and adoption of heterogeneous integration and system-in-package (SiP) are driving the trend for larger package sizes. These larger packages present new and unique handling challenges in semiconductor assembly processes (chip to package), as well as PCB assembly (package to board). This cross-industry team is proposing to demonstrate a large form factor tray and drive new guidelines for handling these emerging package formats for cost-effectiveness and operational efficiency. Based on the success of the demonstrators, they will make relevant recommendations to standards organization(s) on handling media design.

Conformal Coating Evaluation for Improved Environmental Protection

Conformal coatings protect printed circuit boards and components mounted on them from the deleterious effects of moisture, particulate matter and corrosive gases. The conventional method of testing the effectiveness of these coatings is to expose coated hardware to a corrosive environment for extended periods of time, typically lasting many months, to determine the mean time to failure. This project team is working to develop an effective conformal coating evaluation test with a duration of less than a week to save time and enable faster qualification of materials.  

Characterization of Third Generation High-Reliability Pb-Free Alloys

With the continuing introduction of new Pb-free solder alloys the industry needs to build the knowledge base required to ensure correct selection of solder alloys for processing and the required reliability. As these are relatively new materials, thermal fatigue data is lacking. For example, there is limited understanding of the impact of additions of fourth and fifth element major alloying additions as well as microalloy additions on performance. The team is characterizing 10+ alloys, as well as conducting thermal cycling and thermal shock testing over different ranges to establish the correlation between microstructure and thermal fatigue performance.

Wafer/Panel Level Package Flowability & Warpage — this project is working to drive higher yield of mold-first WLP/PLP assembly processes, with better control of flow and warpage. This is a graph from a simulation to determine potential warpage.

Warpage Characterization

iNEMI's several successful warpage-related projects have studied warpage in PCBs and advanced packaging technologies. These projects have gained significant insights into dynamic warpage behavior, studying effects such as design, processing and temperature, and have developed modeling approaches to better predict warpage. Our latest warpage projects are continuing the study of warpage in new packaging technologies in the Package Warpage Prediction and Characterization project, which looks to establish a reliable modelling framework to optimize package warpage simulation. The High Density Interconnect Socket Warpage Prediction and Characterization project is focused on the impact of molding and design on large size socket warpage. As the size and density of advanced packages increase, they require larger and more complex sockets, and socket warpage has become a key issue in board assembly. This project will focus on the socket warpage measurement guidelines and prediction methods needed for these larger sockets.

5G/mmWave Materials Assessment and Characterization

Circuit designers need dielectric properties data for materials at millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies to optimize device performance of new 5G hardware and ensure quality. There are presently no standard reference materials or even agreed upon characterization test methods for materials at mmWave frequencies. Without this information, manufacturers are forced to extrapolate materials data from low frequencies to high frequencies, which can lead to mistakes that have potentially devastating costs.

iNEMI's 5G/mmWave Materials Assessment and Characterization project is developing guidelines and best practices for a standardized measurement and test methodology that can be shared with industry and relevant standards organizations. The initial focus of the large cross-industry team is to benchmark current available test methods and identify any gaps for extending test methods to 5G/mmWave frequencies.

Smart Manufacturing: Data Management Best Practices for PCB Assembly

An automated method to collect, analyze and use machine/process data is a key enabler for the factory of the future. Implementation is hampered in many cases by the diversity of the equipment and lines already in use. This project team will study existing PCBA processes and develop a generic reference data architecture and best practices to enable efficient implementation of smart PCB assembly, defining guidelines for data format, inputs/outputs, timing, frequency, etc. Physical implementation to validate these best practices and demonstrate the ability to improve process/machine performance is also planned.

Eco-Impact Estimator

There is an increasing need across the electronics manufacturing industry for eco-impact transparency and support for decisions at the design stage. A full featured life cycle analysis (LCA) can be burdensome in terms of time and data. An LCA-based estimator tool for assessing selected eco-impact of key electronic components can both speed up and improve design planning and decisions. This iNEMI project is focused on improving the component algorithms and methods for estimating the eco-impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) products. Leveraging prior development in earlier projects, this project is porting the LCA estimator to a hosted environment and updating lifecycle eco-impact data for key component categories such as PCBs, integrated circuits, cables and mechanical parts. 

Connector Reliability Test Recommendations, Phase 3

A standardized reliability test framework for evaluating electrical connectors across types and use conditions is needed. This new project is addressing gaps in existing connector test coverage. A test vehicle for identified connector types will be defined and then verified against a set of test parameters (developed by an earlier iNEMI project) that account for some of the harsher environments that many of today's electronics operate in. Results from this work will be shared with the industry and are expected to lead to updates in connector standards.

Provided by:
Cynthia Williams, Communications Manager,
International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative

IPC
Tracy Riggan
3000 Lakeside Drive
Suite 105 N
Bannockburn, IL 60015
Telephone: 847-615-7100
E-mail: TracyRiggan@ipc.org
Website: www.ipc.org

As a non-profit, member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, industry intelligence and public policy advocacy, IPC is THE global association that helps OEMs, EMS, PCB manufacturers and suppliers build electronics better.

More than 3,000 companies around the world depend on IPC programs and services to further their competitive advantage and financial success. IPC members represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly, and test.

 

Reminiscences from an early PSMA Board Member

OW. Happy 35th Anniversary PSMA.

In the 1970s and early 80s the power electronics industry encountered a huge leap in power supply design technology driven in part by the introduction by Apple and IBM of personal computers. Up until that time, the technology primarily used was large and heavy linear technology power conversion, "boat anchors" manufactured in two car garages as the expression went. During that time, the industry also began to face the challenge of transitioning to bi-polar and high frequency MOSFET designs that would create more efficient, smaller, and lighter products. This encouraged a group of design engineers and marketing leaders to explore creating a new industry group to focus on educating themselves and their customers as the industry began to implement and accept these evolving power technologies. At that time Electro, PowerCon and Westcon were the trade shows and conventions focusing on power electronics. 

On Nov 15, 1985, the Power Sources Manufacturers Association, PSMA, was founded as a 501 C (6) nonprofit industry association. Three months later, in Feb of 1986, the first Board of Directors were elected at a meeting held in Dallas, TX. Tim Parrott served as President and Ron Koslow was PSMA's first Chairman. The Bylaws identified three levels of membership – Regular (Manufacturers of power sources and conversion equipment), Associate (Users of power sources and conversion equipment, or manufacturers of components designed for incorporation into power sources and conversion equipment) and Affiliate (Organizations involved in the power industry, including Manufacturer's Representatives, Distributors, Advertising, Marketing, Consulting, Publications).

PSMA launches third year ( Click to enlarge )

PEC 1989 ( Click to enlarge )

PEC 1990 ( Click to enlarge )

To provide industry exposure PSMA co-sponsored the Power Electronics Conference, PEC, in San Jose in Feb of 1989. PSMA Chairman Art Hamill said, "we believe there is a need for an industry-wide forum which brings together the component suppliers, manufacturers and users of power sources and suppliers. That conference and exposition offered six half day Professional Education Seminars and nine Technical Sessions. One year later, in February 1990, PEC was held at the Long Beach California Convention Center and featured three tracks of "Issue Forums" to discuss industry trends.

To create "deliverables" a Research and Development Committee was formed, led by Donald Staffiere of Digital Equipment and John Woodard of ITT Power Systems, with members representing suppliers, users and university members. In 1990, the committee completed its first report to the Association on the status of R&D in the world and presented the results at the PSMA Annual Convention held in Long Beach, CA in conjunction with PEC. This report evolved over time into the current PSMA Power Technology Roadmap.

In March of 1990, John Steel represented PSMA at an IEEE PELS Power Electronics Retreat with leaders from industry and academia. Interestingly, the meeting minutes contained a sidebar that read, "This was the high energy point of the day. Even though we didn't quite know what that meant, we liked the words 'GREEN ENERGY".

Larry Gilbert, John Rowbottom and Dave Kemp at the PSMA booth at the 1990 Canadian High Technology Show ( Click to enlarge )

Expanding PSMA's exposure, later that year we participated at the Canadian High Technology Show in Toronto. We conducted a Customer-Supplier partnership forum, Norm Berkowitz of Computer Products and myself representing the US, and Glen Belland (Electronic Craftsman) and John Rowbottom (NCR) representing Canada.

After the 1990 PEC and APEC conferences, a group representing PSMA negotiated with representatives of PELS and IAS to become the third financial and technical sponsor of APEC (Applied Power Electronics Conference). The Sponsor Agreement on the Continuing Operation of APEC was written by Bob White and the signers were John M. Steel, PSMA Chairman, Ronald M. Jackson, President IEEE Industrial Applications Society (IAS), and Thomas G. Wilson, President IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS). In Jan of 1991, Dave Kemp and I were appointed Co-chairs of the APEC Technical Program Committee.

There are so many more names that deserve a shout out in the first five years of PSMA. A partial list of the PSMA family at that time includes: Norm Berkowitz, Mike Brown, Lee Campbell, Frank Cathell, Earl Crandall, Emilie Creagar, Chris DuBiel, Mike Foldes, Paul Fulton, Gene Goldberg, Art Hamill, Albert Himy, Dave Kemp, Dan Ketchum, Jim Kimball, Ron Koslow, John Lombardi, Sr., Doug McIlvoy, Mohan Mankikar, Chuck Mullett, Tim Parrott, Sydele Petch, Stu Roberts, Jeff Shepard, Don Staffiere, John Steel, David Thompson, Dean Venable, Ole Vigerstol, Bob White and John Woodard.

We hope to include another article on the early history of PSMA in a future issue of the UPDATE

Provided by Larry Gilbert, former PSMA Board Member and APEC Publicity Chair

Tuesday June 8 2021
Prior to APEC 2021
Phoenix Convention Center
Phoenix, AZ

he PSMA Magnetics Committee and IEEE PELS will conduct the sixth "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" workshop on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, prior to and at the same venue as APEC 2021 in Phoenix, AZ. The purpose and focus of this workshop are to identify the latest developments in magnetic materials, coil (winding) design, construction and fabrication, evaluation and characterization techniques and modelling and simulation tools. This is to target those power magnetics advancements that are deemed necessary by the participants to meet the technical expectations and requirements of new market applications to satisfy the higher operating frequencies and emerging topologies that are being driven by continuous advances in circuits topologies and semi-conductor devices.

The target audiences for the 2021 Power Magnetics @ High Frequency workshop include the designers of power magnetic components for use in electronic power converters responsible to implement the most technologically advanced power magnetic components necessary to achieve higher power densities, specific physical aspect ratios such as low profile, higher power efficiencies and improved thermal performance. The target audiences also include people involved in the supply chain for the power magnetics industry ranging from manufacturers of magnetic materials and magnetic structures, fabricators of magnetic components, providers of modelling and simulation software as well as manufacturers of test and characterization equipment.

The 2021 Power Magnetics @ High Frequency workshop morning session will open with a keynote presentation by Dr. Fang Luo of Stony Brook University followed by several lecture presentations regarding EMI issues caused by and solved by magnetic components. The afternoon session will be led by a keynote presentation by Dr Qiang Li of Virginia Tech's CPES followed by several presentations regarding integrated and coupled magnetics. In addition to the brief Q&A period after each individual presentation there will be a panel of the presenters at the end of the session who will address topics requiring more detail as deemed by the workshop attendees.

During breakfast, lunch, and the networking hour at the end of the workshop there will be an interactive session of tabletop technology demonstrations each addressing specific technical disciplines and capabilities consistent with the workshop agenda. Each technology demonstration station will include a ten-minute presentation at fifteen-minute intervals. Interaction between the attendees and the presenters is highly encouraged during this portion of agenda as a segue between the technical presentation sessions.

If anyone would like to participate as a presenter for the technical demonstration session, please contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com with a description of your proposed technical capabilities topic. The preferred topics for technical demonstration session should be related to the following themes: EMI issues, integrated magnetics, magnetic coupling and emerging magnetic materials and structures. We are limited to a total of ten technology demonstration sessions.

The specifics for the workshop structure and the presentations for the workshop are currently in progress and are not finalized. If anyone is interested in presenting on the topics of EMI issues associated with magnetic components or integrated magnetics, please contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com.

More details regarding the agenda for the workshop as well as registration for the workshop will become available on the PSMA website (www.psma.com/technical-forums/magnetics/workshop) over the coming months.

Organizing Committee
Steve Carlsen, Raytheon Systems Company
Ed Herbert, PSMA
Rodney Rogers, Allstar Magnetics
George Slama, Wurth Elektronik
Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide
Chuck Wild, Dexter Magnetic Technologies Inc.
Matt Wilkowski, EnaChip

PSMA and IEEE PELS Sponsor 2021 Pre-APEC Capacitors in Power Electronics Workshop

s 2020 is running towards its finish line, even those, who like to face challenges, could never have expected a scenario like the one we experienced this year and we still need to find the right answers for a healthy and prosperous future. As the PSMA Capacitor Committee continued to keep moving forward with the support and tremendous efforts of our staff, company representatives and interested customers, we were able to react in the best possible way to create and offer in a new virtual format the 2020 Capacitor Workshop. The successful experience from this year's activities has prepared us as we organize for the 2021 Capacitor Workshop sponsored by PSMA and IEEE PELS.

We continue our efforts to educate and inform the industry about the latest news and technology developments of the Capacitor business, an important sector since 2/3 of passive components are capacitors. The 2021 Capacitor Workshop is the fourth in the series and will be held on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 conjunction with APEC2021 at the Phoenix Convention Center. Each year we have seen a growing interest and received valuable feedback from our attendees which provides us direction as we plan the next workshop. The 2021 Capacitor Workshop is going to open new doors that will focus on interesting and trending topics in technology and challenging applications

The PSMA Capacitor Workshop Organizing Committee has a clear mission:

The PSMA Capacitor Committee Annual Workshop aligned with APEC has a mission to educate the attendees on capacitor trends, technologies, and innovations. Wherever and whenever applications need energy, Capacitors are at the spotlight, and as energy moves the world it is incumbent for everyone to keep their finger on the pulse of capacitor issues. We are committed to present the best information available to meet the industry's needs.

Along with so many of us, the Capacitor Workshop Committee learned a lot through the process of changing the traditional format of a face-to-face workshop at previous APEC events into a virtual workshop. For 2021 we are preparing for three possibilities: 100% live and on site, 100% virtual and a hybrid. Planning for these different options is part of our strategy to ensure that the 2021 workshop meets the needs of the attendees and is a success.

Are you interested in learning more about the high temperature capabilities of EDLC Super-Capacitors, high voltage hybrid Aluminum Polymers?  Have you asked yourself, what is the difference between the result of the simulation you did and the first measurements of your prototypes? How a capacitors' lifetime will differ when environmental conditions are changing? All those and many more questions are targeted to be answered in Phoenix. In fact, the 2021 workshop headline is: "Design Techniques for the 21st Century - Behind the Scenes, Make Sure You Choose & Use the Correct Capacitor".

The 2021 Capacitor Workshop will offer value to everyone, from students and new engineers to advanced designers of DC-DC converters, frequency drives, inverters, and other power conversation applications. Multiple topics from industry, automotive and other application areas are included the agenda of this workshop. We look forward to providing information and answers to more and more Capacitor questions at the 2021 workshop.

The Capacitor Workshop has always been planned in parallel with the Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop, with attendees having the opportunity to visit the demonstration stations for both workshops. However, in 2021 we go even one-step further, bringing together – Magnetics & Capacitors. With a joint demonstration station of magnetics and capacitor specialists, we will demonstrate how to design a best-in-class filter.

By combining theoretical content and practical lectures with topic related interactive demonstration stations, attendees get a full view of the technology from concept to practical implementation. The workshop agenda will address application-based challenges on capacitor technologies, the latest capacitor developments as well as the impact of market shortages on new developments and possible solutions to overcome actual problems.

The 2021 Capacitor Workshop will cover the following topics:

• Automotive & eMobility
• Design of
• Power Supplies
• Filters
• Drives
• Environmental influences on various capacitor technologies
• Difference between simulation and reality

The organizers aim is to provide an optimal balance between theoretical and practical information. The presenters are from leading capacitor manufacturers and representatives from worldwide renowned universities. There will also be presentations on ongoing advances in   capacitor research and development. There will be keynote presentations from forward-thinking market players. In addition, there will be panel sessions of the presenters to address questions and expand on the materials they presented.

The workshop will include interactive demonstration sessions to highlight many of the key concepts discussed during the presentations. These demonstration stations will be available during the breakfast prior to the opening session, lunch, and the networking session at the end of the day's events, giving attendees the opportunity to meet the presenters and professionals directly and get in-touch with the various technologies and their advantages.

The formal presentations are designed to open new horizons of capacitor technologies to attendees and to address questions engineers have, or will have, when working with different capacitor dielectrics. If you have any specific areas or issues that you would like included, please email Pierre Lohrber of the Workshop Organizing Committee at pierre.lohrber@we-online.de.

We look forward to your participation. More details regarding the agenda for the workshop as well as registration for the workshop will become available on the PSMA website (www.psma.com/technical-forums/capacitor/workshop) over the coming months.

Provided by members of the Capacitor Workshop Organizing Committee:

Pierre Lohrber, Wurth Electronics
Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide

Successful 2020 Corridor Webinar Series Introduced PwrSoC to a Wider Audience

he Power Supply on Chip corridor webinar series sponsored by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) and IEEE Power Electronics Society (IEEE PELS) was held during the first two weeks of November 2020. This webinar series, made possible by the financial support of PSMA, had a goal  of bridging the 2018 PwrSoC workshop and the 2021 PwrSoc Workshop that was rescheduled. due to the COVID19 impact on the ability of attendees to travel and to attend a live event. The 2021 PwrSoC Workshop is scheduled to be held in-person from October 24, through October 27, at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia PA.

The (PwrSoC) corridor webinar series consisted of three two-hour sessions. Each webinar session addressed technology developments since the 2018 workshop that may well be ready for commercialization by the time of the 2021 workshop. Each session focused on a different set of applications and technology advances. The sessions were held on November 5, November 10, and November 12. Each session consisted of three presentations and a panel Q&A that lasted about 30 minutes, reflecting the webinar attendees' interest in the presentations and appetite for additional information on the technologies that are being developed.

The agendas of the webinar sessions were as follows:

The growing awareness and interest of PwrSoC enabling technologies was evidenced by the large number of registrations realized for the webinar series, more than double the number of attendees at previous workshops. The virtual webinar series enabled participation by those who are interested in PwrSoC but may not have been able to travel to attend the past in-person workshops.

Mark Allen the general chair for 2021 PwrSoC workshop noted "… the technical breadth and market awareness of the presenters and the session chairs clearly identified many of the technical advances and expanding applications and opportunities since the 2018 workshop, paving the way to a noteworthy and comprehensive workshop agenda in 2021…"

International Power Supply-on-Chip (PwrSoC) Workshop 2021

Throughout its history, each workshop has spotlighted advanced technologies needed to build granular and modular power supplies and provided compelling demonstrations of commercialized products that make a clear case that PwrSoC and PSiP technologies are becoming more prominent and mainstream.

The technical program chairs for the 2021 International Power Supply-on-Chip (PwrSoC) Workshop are Hanh-Phuc Le of University of California at San Diego and Matt Wilkowski of EnaChip. Hanh-Phuc and Matt have both been presenters, session chairs and program chairs for past Power Supply on Chip workshops. A team of world-renowned experts, innovators and pioneers of the Power Supply on Chip technology has been assembled to chair the workshop's nine sessions.

The technical program chairs for the 2021 workshop are Hanh-Phuc le of University of California at San Diego and Matt Wilkowski of EnaChip. Hanh-Phuc and Matt have both been presenters, session chairs and program chairs for past Power Supply on Chip workshops. A team of world-renowned experts, innovators and pioneers of the Power Supply on Chip technology has been assembled to chair the workshop's nine sessions.

• Plenary Session - Jose Cobos, University Polytechnic Madrid
• Systems and Applications - Francesco Carobolante, IoTissimo
• Topologies and Control - Bruno Allard, Université de Lyon
• Wideband Gap Integration - Brian Ma, University Texas Dallas
• Integrated Capacitors & Energy Storage - Medhi Jatlaoui, Murata
• Integrated Magnetics - Masahiro Yamaguchi, Tohoku University Japan
• Sys Integ Manufacturing and Packaging - Baoxing Chen, Analog Devices
• Granular Power - Santosh Kulkarni, Dialog Semiconductor
• Posters - Minjie Chen, Princeton University

The planning of the technical program, supporting activities as well as identifying workshop partners to contribute to its success are in process. If interested in being a workshop partner, please contact the workshop financial chair, Trifon Liakopoulos, at the following e-mail address: trifon@enachip.com

Continuing the tradition of the enthusiasm, market relevance and success of this recent webinar series and past workshops, we are looking forward to the International Power Supply-on-Chip (PwrSoC) Workshop 2021 in Philadelphia, PA. during the week of October 24 thru 27 2021 bringing to light the technology and market application developments since the most recent in-person PwrSoC workshop in Taiwan during October 2018.

General Chair:
Mark Allen  mallen@seas.upenn.edu

Technical Program Co-Chairs
Matt Wilkowski mwilkowski@enachip.com
Hanh-Phuc Le hanhphuc@ucsd.edu

For more information about previous and coming PwrSoC events, visit http://pwrsocevents.com.

3D-PEIM
June 21-23, 2021,
Osaka University, Japan

SMA is sponsoring the Third Biennial International Symposium on 3D Power Electronics Integration and Manufacturing (3D-PEIM-2021) June 21-23, 2021. We thank Osaka University for their commitment to being our 3D-PEIM 2021 Host. Based on the unknown status of the COVID-19 pandemic next June, we have cautiously decided to have an in-person/online hybrid event.  Further details will be available in January.

The 2021 3D-PEIM Symposium will be led by General Chair Prof. Tsuyoshi Funaki of Osaka University, Japan and Technical Program Co-Chairs Prof. Katsuaki Suganuma, Osaka University, Japan; Dr. Minora Ueshima, Daicel, Japan; Prof. Guo-Quan Lu, Virginia Tech, USA.

Prof. Tsuyoshi Funaki, Osaka University

Prof. Katsuaki Suganuma, Osaka University

Prof. Guo-Quan (GQ) Lu, Virginia Tech USA

Minora Ueshima, Daicel, Japan

The 3rd biennial 3D-PEIM Symposium has successfully reinvited all of the original 2020 program world-class experts, representing a far-reaching range of disciplinary perspectives to advance the development of future 3D power electronics packaging systems. The Symposium encompasses additive, embedded, co-designed, and integrated packaging technologies with sessions that address mechanical, materials, reliability, and manufacturability issues using small, smart, power-dense components, and modules.

Professionals and Academics engaged in R & D of power electronics packaging design, and manufacturing processes

This Symposium provides attendees an excellent opportunity to gain insight or broaden expertise in 3D power electronics packaging and integration. As in the past, we will arrange the Symposium schedule to provide ample time between sessions for attendees to share ideas, progress, and challenges with leading members of Universities, companies, and international associations and societies. On the last day of the Symposium, attendees will be invited for a guided tour of the Osaka University Laboratory for Power Electronics and Electrical Energy and the Graduate School of Engineering Gallery.

General Chair Professor Tsuyoshi Funaki states, "I am glad we are the first to host the 3D-PEIM Symposium outside the USA. It is very appropriate that 3D-PEIM 2021 is held here because there are many power device and peripheral packaging material manufacturers in Japan. Hopefully, the COVID-19 threat will be over so that we can provide an amazing experience for the attendees because we will be re-assembling as many of the world's prominent experts in power electronics packaging and manufacturing that we had planned for this year. I also believe that all attendees will gain significantly advanced packaging knowledge through discussions at this Symposium."

Other Organizing Committee Members

• Brian Narveson, Narveson Consulting, USA – Steering Committee Chairman and Finance Chairman
• Prof. Patrick McCluskey, University of Maryland, USA – Past General Chairman and Assistant to General Chairman
• John Bultitude, Kemet, USA – Publications Chairman
• Arnold Alderman, Anagenesis, Inc. USA – Publicity Chairman
• Prof. Doug Hopkins, North Carolina State University, USA – Past General Chairman and Advisor
• Joe Horzepa, U.S.A. – Executive Director of PSMA

If you wish to be a Media, Technical, or Exhibit Partner, please contact http://www.3d-peim.org/contact/ or Symposium Sponsor PSMA: power@psma.com

Program Schedule:

Because we are offering virtual attendance, the schedule below shows three time zone times in the program for those attendees and presenters attending online. The day starting and ending times example is shown below.  Due to time zones' challenges, all sessions will be recorded and available to paid attendees after the Symposium.

The Symposium will also include:

• Tabletop demonstration exhibitions
• Networking & Laboratory Tours – Osaka University

Further announcements and the complete Symposium agenda will be posted on the 3D-PEIM Website later this year.

Some feedback from attendees at the 2016 & 2018 Symposiums:

• "The 3D-PEIM brings together a unique set of participants – those involved in power packaging who actually know and care about manufacturing and reliability."
• "Most valuable is the breadth of topics. I don't consider myself an expert in many topics presented so, touching on multiple topics is very helpful."
• "The keynote speeches were most valuable, providing an excellent recent update on embedded technologies."

We look forward to you joining us either in-person or online in Osaka, Japan, in June 2021.

For further information, you can contact: http://www.3d-peim.org/contact/ or Symposium Sponsor PSMA: power@psma.com

Host:    

Sponsor:

The 8th Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications

he organizing committee for the 8th Annual IEEE / PMSA Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA) is cautiously optimistic that the conference will be permitted to be held as an in-person event November 7 – 9, 2021.

The organizing committee remains committed to provide engineers and scientists with opportunities to share their expertise in wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor technology. The workshop will feature tutorials as well as keynote sessions, panel sessions, technical sessions, and a poster session that covers four technical tracks: silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, SiC applications, gallium nitride (GaN) power devices, GaN applications, and new this year, Gallium Nitride (GaN) RF devices and applications and International Technology Roadmap for Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductors) (ITRW).  Topics in emerging WBG materials will also be solicited. 

Keynote Sessions:
The committee is thrilled to be able to offer participants the opportunity to attend keynote sessions featuring industry leaders discussing the latest developments in wide bandgap technology and applications.  The speakers include:

• Dan Kinzer, COO, CTO, Co-founder and Director of Navitas Semiconductor
• Jim Witham, CEO of GaN Systems
• Jon Palmour, CTO of Wolfspeed, a Cree company
• Alex Lidow, CEO and Co-founder of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Corporation
• Professor Wai Tung Ng, Professor with the Edward S. Rogers Senior Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto
• Keisuke Shinohara, Principal Scientist with Teledyne Scientific & Imaging
• Thomas Schafbauer, VP & GM PSS Division, AC/DC, Infineon Technologies
• Primit Parikh, Co-founder and COO, Transphorm Inc

Full bios for keynote speakers can be found at wipda.org/keynote-sessions/

There will be many opportunities to network with leading WBG specialists in industry, academia and national laboratories, especially at the Industry and Sponsors Exhibition, which occurs simultaneously with the workshop. 

The workshop is brought to you by the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA), and the IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS).  The General Chair is Sameh Khalil, Senior Principal Engineer, GaN Device Reliability and Product Engineering Management at Infineon Technologies.  He is supported by Vice Chair Helen Li, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, FAMU-FSU college of Engineering
 
Key Dates:

Call for Abstracts:
The abstract submission portal will open mid spring to accept authors' manuscripts.  Researchers are encouraged to submit their latest findings on the design and fabrication of WBG power devices, their insertion in power electronics circuits/systems, and on technology of SiC, GaN, their reliability and other emerging, high performance WBG power semiconductors. 
 
Authors and speakers are encouraged to submit their latest research findings in this WiPDA world-renown symposium. For abstract proposals, the technical topics of interest 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
• Radio Frequency (RF) GaN (NEW)
• Technology Roadmap of Wide Bandgap Including Devices, Applications and Packaging (NEW)

The committee is deeply appreciative of our sponsors and valued audience members during these uncertain times.  Continue to stay safe and well and we look forward to seeing everyone in Redondo Beach in November 2021! 

Please subscribe to stay informed of the latest news and receive deadline reminders for WiPDA 2021. Also, join the WiPDA group on LinkedIn.

Stay safe!

Provided by Provided by Renee Yawger WiPDA 2021 Publicity Chair

Please check back soon for information on IWIPP 2021.

Sponsored by:
Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA)
IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS)
IEEE Electronic Packaging Society (EPS)
IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS)
European Center for Power Electronics (ECPE)

ctober 29, 2020, after seven months of silence due to a major upgrade of the 70 meter wide radio antenna located in Camberra, NASA sent a set of commands to the 43 year-old spacecraft, Voyager 2 that has travelled billions of miles from earth since its launch in 1977. Voyager 2 acknowledged it had received the call and executed the commands without any issue. Interesting for sure - but what is the significance of this to power engineers?

Although often considered as the last cog in the wheel by system designers, in truth the power supply is probably one of the most important parts of their equipment. From the thyratron tubes used in the type REC-30 power rectifier to supply HV power to teletype teleprinters in 1930 [1], through to the latest Wide Band Gap semiconductors, without their curiosity and passion, power designers would not have made a lot of things possible. Voyager 2 is a good example of that, but who remembers what happened in the late seventies and early eighties within the power industry and how leading power engineers changed the face of our industry?

Back in time to the battlefield!

Voyager 2 (NASA)

Known since 1930, switching power supply principles have been explored by power designers for decades with the aerospace industry with NASA being the driving force in research and development. Considering the astronomical cost of a launch, and also the lifetime of space probes and satellites, space power designers sought for lower weight, higher energy efficiency and compactness. In the sixties NASA had already used switching power systems in a number of satellites e.g. Telstar in 1962.

In parallel with secret research conducted by aerospace and military organizations to miniaturize embedded power systems, power designers in the civil industry also considered alternative solutions to the old, heavy, bulky conventional architecture of transformer, rectifier, and linear regulation. Who launched the first commercial switching power supply is up for debate, but we can mention RO Associates who in 1967 introduced a 20Khz power solution, followed by a wave of products e.g. 1970 NEMIC Japan, 1973 HP 500W.

Figure 01

For leading power designers it was obvious that switching power technology was the future. But at that time linear power supplies were the standard and 'switching' was considered to be a suspicious technology. Some were predicting that the interference field generated by switching could cause major damage to the final application.

We should remember that in the seventies linear power supplies were the norm, and despite Lambda introducing a line of 'standardized' linear power supplies, the launch of Power-One's 'H' series is considered by many as the first 'off the shelf' power solution, first in USA and then in Europe. Based on a genius level concept of a folded aluminum plate used as case and power dissipater, Power-One launched an amazing number of variants offering systems designers a ready to use power supply (Figure 01).

Figure 02

Simultaneously in Japan - with very little information coming out from that country – power supplies manufacturers not only launched a complete range of linear power supplies but only few years after, a range of switching power solution. One example is the company ELCO/COSEL, which launched the linear "G" series in 1975, followed in 1977 by a complete range of switching power supplies, the "H" series (Figure 02)! In truth, Japan was really ahead of the curve. Another example being SONY who in 1960 at the time when the TV industry used electronics tubes (valves), were the first to use transistors in their TVs and were probably the first to implement a switching power supply in TV equipment in the early seventies.

We should also remember that in the late seventies and early eighties, the vast majority of companies developing electronics equipment had their own in-house power departments designing dedicated power solutions for their applications. Not surprisingly, for many in-house power designers the launch of the Power-One 'H' series was perceived as a threat. Many equipment manufacturers adopted standardized 'off the shelf' power supplies, refocusing their internal power department's R&D to the emerging switching power technology in order to stay ahead of their competitors.

With passion, talent and curiosity!

The seventies was full of talented engineers researching enhanced switching power solutions and it would require a dedicated article to name them all. Among all of them, I will mention here two 'power gurus', Robert J. Boschert (Boschert Associates) and Frederick Rod Holt (Apple), both working at the same time on more efficient power solutions. In both cases, as it was in the aerospace industry, they aimed to make the power supplies smaller, lighter and more efficient.

Figure 03

According to legend, in his kitchen in 1970, Robert Boschert started to develop a more cost effective, competitive and lighter power supply as an alternative to the bulky transformer and linear regulation model. He focused on developing a switching power supply for wheel and band printers that he produced in volume in 1974. In 1976 he launched one of the first 'off the shelf' switching power supplies and applied for patents 4,037,271 and 4,061,931 to protect its IPR (Figure 03). The two patents were granted in less than a year, followed by the commercial success of the OL25 switcher that received high profile coverage in the press and media e.g. "Flyback converters: solid-state solution to low-cost switching power supplies" published 21 December, 1978 in Electronics. Robert Boschert was also a pioneer in selling licenses of its IPR and in 1977 Boschert Inc. had more than 600 employees and was certified to design switching power solutions for space and military aircrafts.

At the same time Steve Jobs, known for his curiosity in new technology, considered switching power technology as being of interest, but due to lack of time the Apple I, launched in April 1976, featured a conventional linear power supply. But then, working on the Apple II Rob Holt designed a 38W multi-output off-line flyback switching power supply (Figure 04) for which he filled a patent in February 1978 and got it granted in December (4,130,862). Apple II was a success and with volume levels increasing, Apple outsourced the manufacturing of the power supply to ASTEC, beginning the long history of OEM power supplies for computers.

Figure 04

Perhaps anecdotal but nonetheless illustrating the competitive landscape within the power industry which suffered a number of IPR disputes, in Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography it is written that Jobs said: "Instead of a conventional linear power supply, Holt built one like those used in oscilloscopes. It switched the power on and off not sixty times per second, but thousands of times; this allowed it to store the power for far less time, and thus throw off less heat. That switching power supply was as revolutionary as the Apple II logic board was." Jobs later added: "Rod doesn't get a lot of credit for this in the history books, but he should. Every computer now uses switching power supplies, and they all rip off Rod Holt's design."

For sure, as a good marketer Steve Jobs would like APPLE to enjoy the accolade of implementing switching power supplies in PCs, though many others e.g. IBM and HP followed the same path at the same time, all aiming for higher performance and reduced costs. However, despite the huge benefits of that technology, its implementation and market adoption has been relatively slow and market analysts have estimated that only 8% of the power supplies manufactured in 1978 were based on switching topology.

Make my Teletype smaller, lighter and faster!

In the introduction, I mentioned the thyratron power rectifier type REC-30 powering a 1930 Teletype teleprinter [1]. Few know that, in those days, Teletypes used to be state of the art telecommunication machines, motivating power designers to invent and innovate long before the introduction of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5G.

Besides topologies, one major evolution in the switching power supply industry occurred in 1976 when Robert Mammano, cofounder of Silicon General Semiconductors introduced the first control IC dedicated to switching power supply. The launch of the SG1524 was a major step forward within the power supply community, and its first application was a new generation of Teletype machines marketed as being 'smaller, lighter and faster'.

Originally developed to solve a Teletype manufacturing problem, the introduction of the SG1524 became the kick-off of modern switching power supplies, opening the way to inventions and innovations that we all benefit from today.

The race for switching power is open!

With the development of the personal computer and IT equipment, the demand for high efficiency and low weight increased the demand on power designers to improve performance further. Despite Steve Jobs' perception, computer leaders such as IBM had impressive power departments and the launch of the IBM 5150 Personal Computer set the tempo for the design of a dedicated power supply using the NE5560 and later the SG3524 chip. Unique to the PC industry, switching power supplies are specific to a motherboard and are not as such 'off the shelf' for common applications use, although the snowball effect on contracted manufacturers contributed to boost their own products' development, launching complete ranges of commercial products.

On the industrial side it is impossible to name all the products and innovations but since we mentioned the Power-One 'H' series, it is fitting to mention a young engineer who joined Power-One in the early eighties, Steve Goldman, who led the team that designed the new generation of switching power supplies, the MAP series. Anecdotally, MAP stands for the name of Power-One's Chief Engineer/Designer at that time, Michael Archer (Michael Archer Product).

Simultaneously the computing and industrial industries moved towards switching power architectures and although it took years before that technology prevailed over the well-established linear solution, a number of power electronics conventions started all around the world, providing a forum for power engineers to learn and share knowledge about new technologies.

1980, the pivotal point in the power industry!

At the end of the seventies and the beginning of the eighties the power industry forged the foundations of where we are today. While the IEEE Power Electronics Specialist Conference (PESC) started in 1970, power designers and industry leaders sought a different type of forum to share technology knowledge, new ideas and best practices. POWERCON took place in Beverly Hills, CA, March 20 to 22, 1975, followed in 1978 by a conference primarily focused on telecommunications called INTELEC. Unfortunately, after nine years POWERCON ceased in 1984 leaving the power community as an orphan.

Back in days when the grandfather of the internet, ARPANET had just adopted the TCP/IP protocol (January 1983), power engineers were still miles away from chatting and blogging, and with the growing demand for tighter cooperation within the power industry the need for a 'one place to share' became obvious. In 1983 the China Power Supply Society (CPSS) was founded, and in 1985 the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) was incorporated. Both organizations aimed to share knowledge and to facilitate communication within their respective power communities, and 35 years later both are still supporting power engineers.

At the same time that PSMA was formed, a group of eight passionate engineers, Bill Hazen (Prime Computer) ; Don Drinkwater (DEC) ; Phil Hower (Unitrode) ; Jonathan Wood (Data General) ; Marty Schlecht (MIT) ; Jack Wright (GE) ; Trey Burns (Data General) and John Kassakian (MIT) had an idea to create a power conference which would embrace research, applied electronics, and serve to connect electronics engineers to a larger community including industry, and the provision of an exhibition. It was to be called the Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), and the first edition took place on 28 April to 1 May, 1986 in New Orleans.

And the story continues…

The power electronics industry has been through many periods of evolution, disruption and revolution. If the introduction of the Bipolar Junction Transistor was arguably the 'first' technological revolution, there is no doubt that the migration from linear power conversion to switching technology was the second, and the beginning of a long evolutionary path.

Forty-three years after it was the launched, Voyager 2 has travelled 14 billion miles into deep space and the power supplies that pioneers designed in the early seventies are still doing their jobs. This is what makes all of us excited by what we do in the power industry and thanks go to all the genius power designers that I have been unable to name in this article that have contributed to make the transition from linear to switching technology possible.

References:

1. Teletype Model 19 Thyratron Power Supply - https://youtu.be/WX74GoHuwHk

Provided by Patrick Le Fèvre Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Powerbox

he UL/EN/IEC 62368 standard is a merger of two standards—UL/EN/IEC 60065 Audio and Video Equipment and UL/EN/IEC 60950 Information and Communication Equipment. As with other standards, there are different versions or editions of the standard such as IEC 62368-1 2014. As this standard applies to a broad range of popular applications, many designers are affected by its requirements.

Most designers probably have some familiarity with 62368 because the industry has been transitioning to this standard for several years, and, within the U.S., this standard replaced the legacy standards in June 2019 for any new products seeking certification. However, there's another regulatory milestone looming as the legacy standards in the European Union are about to be withdrawn on December 20, 2020, making this essentially the adoption date for 62368 in the EU. (1)

As this deadline approaches, many designers may still need to come up to speed on what the standard requires, and understand what variations of the standard are being applied as well as aspects of the standard that are still in flux. With that in mind, we present a brief overview and update on UL/EN/IEC 62368, noting the status of various versions of the standard in different countries and sources for further information. We also highlight a few elements of IEC 62368 such as standards-related terminology, touch temperature limits and two application areas that will be impacted by anticipated changes in IEC 62368, namely indoor and outdoor equipment and products with USB and PoE interfaces.

Label Reform

Under the emerging regulatory changes, the label on each of the appliance products changes and there are new requirements for each product. For example, the labeling required in the old (EC) no 642/2009 and (EU) 1062/2010, which apply to TVs and monitors, changes in the new regulation. While the existing product ratings assign A, A+, A++, and A+++, the new rating system goes from A through G (more on this in the section on Displays).

Safety and Hazard Based

IEC 62368 is not a rule-based standard but rather a safety and hazard-based standard. Audio and video equipment and information communications equipment have many ports such as USB and the newer USB Type C ports. The computer monitor has ports that the consumer or user can touch. The manufacturers are now requested to present hazards to the safety agencies including voltage, and temperatures of the various surfaces. 

Table 1. IEC 62368 implementation by country or region. [2]

It has taken time for the various agencies to create a harmonized standard. Each region of the world has its own version and implementation date as seen in Table 1.

UL has given a number of presentations and overviews concerning the standard. One of the earlier presentations was an IEC 62368-1 overview given by Thomas Burke a principal product safety engineer, Consumer and Enterprise Tech Equipment at UL, on June 7, 2017 to PSMA. A recording of the presentation along with the slides is available on the Safety and Compliance Forum on the PSMA website.

More recently Dennis Butcher, senior project engineer, Ctech EULA, gave a webinar presentation on July 28, 2020 "The Adoption of IEC 62368-1 3rd Edition and IEC 62368-3."[3] This presentation is available from UL's Toolkit page. This web page offers resources to help engineers and compliance engineers navigate the IEC 62368-1 3rd Edition from UL 60065 and the UL 60950 standards. 
There are a number of editions to IEC 62368-1 including 62368-1 2nd Edition 2014, which is often cited in the literature. There's also UL/CSA 62368-1 3rd Edition. which was published Oct. 4, 2018. This paper cannot address many of the differences found in the variations because these variations apply to different products and each product is different and has different uses. 

Testing and Design Assistance

Many companies have a compliance engineering department. This department gathers the standards for the products for safety and regulations for various parts of the world where the company's products are sold. The compliance department needs to have a good understanding of the language used in the standards because in many cases, this language may not be understood by design engineers. The following was taken from the Thomas Burke presentation defining some differences. 

Table 2. Definitions used by IEC 60950-1 verse IEC 62368-1. [2]

Hazards

In products where consumers can touch various parts of the product, there are issues with both temperature and electric shock. Table 3 lists temperature limits under the standard for accessible (touchable) parts.

Table 3. Touch temperature limits imposed by IEC 62368-1. [2]

Indoor Outdoor Equipment

Because the 62368 standard did not address all industry concerns, there are cases where it has not supplanted the old standard. This is true for outdoor applications. As the following excerpt [3] explains, the second edition of 62368 still references IEC 60950-22 with regard to outdoor equipment. However, the third edition of the standard will include the 60950-22 requirements in an Annex Y as noted. Some of these requirements are still not fully defined. So, some unsettled issues remain and other agencies will need to help address what is to be applied.  

USB And PoE

Another case where the legacy 60950 requirements have remained in effect are the interfaces that transmit both data and power. For example, many pieces of equipment use USB for both data and power. This is true for the newer USB Type C cables that can eliminate product power supplies and the associated ac power cords.

Similarly, many security cameras and monitors use CAT 5 and CAT 6 cables for both power and data information following the power over Ethernet (PoE) standards. Both of these interfaces will be covered in the third edition of IEC 62368-1 as shown in the following excerpt. [2]
There are newer lighting products that are using CAT 5 and CAT 6 cable systems for both hallway lighting in hotels and security cameras. Some of these systems have backup dc power in case of a power outage. These systems use the new LED lights, allowing lower power consumption and long periods of operation such as two or three hours, which was unheard of with emergency exit lighting and security cameras in the past.
These lighting products came onto the market after the 62368 was initially published so they weren't covered. And there are others such as video doorbells, which can use the existing power and can even have a battery backup using Li-ion batteries. But it's expected that these products will be covered in the third or fourth editions.

References

1. "Getting to Know IEC 62368-1—How Does A TV/Stereo Standard Affect My Industrial Power Electronics Design?" by Kevin Parmenter and James Spangler, How2Power Today, November 2017
2. "IEC 62368-1 Overview" by Tom Burke, UL Presentation to PSMA Safety & Compliance Committee, 6/7/2017.
3. "The Adoption of IEC 62368-1 3rd Edition and IEC 62368-3"webinar by Dennis Butcher, July 2020, available at "UL's ToolKit for Your 62368-1 Transition".

Kevin Parmenter Director of Applications Engineering Taiwan Semiconductor America

Jim Spangler President Spangler Prototype Inc. (SPI)

Editor's Note: This article was first published in the September 2020 issue of How2Power Today (http://www.how2power.com/newsletters/index.php).

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