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Surpassing Silicon: Paper-Thin Gallium Oxide Transistor Handles More Than 8,000 Volts:
People love their electric cars. But not so much the bulky batteries and related power systems that take up precious cargo space. Help could be on the way from a gallium oxide-based transistor under development at the University at Buffalo.
In a study published in the June edition of IEEE Electron Device Letters, electrical engineers describe how the tiny electronic switch can handle more than 8,000 volts, an impressive feat considering it's about as thin as a sheet of paper.
The transistor could lead to smaller and more efficient electronic systems that control and convert electric power — a field of study known as power electronics — in electric cars, locomotives and airplanes. In turn, this could help improve how far these vehicles can travel.
[...] Tests conducted [...] in March show the transistor can handle 8,032 volts before breaking down, which is more than similarly designed transistors made of silicon carbide or gallium nitride that are under development.
"The higher the breakdown voltage, the more power a device can handle," says Singisetti. "The passivation layer is a simple, efficient and cost-effective way to boost the performance of gallium oxide transistors."
Journal Reference:
Shivam Sharma, Ke Zeng, Sudipto Saha, Uttam Singisetti. Field-Plated Lateral Ga2O3 MOSFETs With Polymer Passivation and 8.03 kV Breakdown Voltage, (DOI: 10.1109/LED.2020.2991146)
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday June 05 2020, @08:27AM
The drive electronics in current BEVs are not that big compared to the rest of the car. I mean, from memory the largest part is the battery, followed by the motors themselves. The Electronics are usually sandwiched in a little area where they can be adequately cooled.
So even if this Transistor reduced the size of the drive electronics, it would not make much difference, as say, using a more energy dense form of energy storage compared to current battery tech, or developing lighter/smaller electric motors of the same power rating.