Plenary
Lecture
High Power Switching Devices:
Past, Present and Future
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Professor Noel Y. A. Shammas
Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Advanced
Technology
Staffordshire University
UK
E-mail:
N.Y.A.Shammas@staffs.ac.uk
Abstract: Switching devices
are key components in any power
electronic circuit or system as
they control and limit the flow of
power from the source to the load.
Their power level requirements
(current & voltage) and switching
frequency are continually
increasing in the power electronic
industry, and this demands larger
and faster switching devices.
This paper will focus on the
development of high power
switching devices and will present
an up to date perspective of
switching device technology and
materials. The most important
material has been and still is
silicon (Si) for solid-state
semiconductor devices. It
dominates the world market at
present, particularly in its
crystalline form. However, silicon
power device operation is
generally limited to relatively
low frequency and temperature.
Silicon Carbide, Gallium Nitride
and Diamond offer the potential to
overcome the frequency,
temperature and power management
limitations of silicon. A large
number of new concepts and
materials are still in the
research stage. At present,
Silicon Carbide is considered to
have the best trade-off between
material properties and commercial
maturity. Multilayer Silicon
Carbide (SiC) power semiconductor
devices being in development are
promising devices for the near
future, but long term reliability,
crystal degradation and forward
voltage drift problems need to be
solved before commercialisation.
Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Noel Shammas is currently a
Professor in Microelectronics and
Solid-State Power Semiconductor
Devices in the faculty of
Computing, Engineering and
Advanced Technology, Staffordshire
University. He received the M.Sc
and Ph.D degrees from Salford
University in 1972 and 1975
respectively. Since then he
lectured and researched at
different universities and
industry.
Research work is primarily focused
on Power Semiconductor Devices
which includes mainly Power
diodes, Light Emitting Diodes
(LED’s), Insulated Gate Bipolar
Transistors and Thyristors. Other
related areas of research work
includes Power Module Packaging
technologies ( Both Conventional
Press- pack and Smart pack
designs) and Series/Parallel
operation of high power
semiconductor devices and their
interaction with external
circuits.
Professor Shammas has extensive
experience in both experimental
and theoretical research work and
is recognised internationally for
his significant contribution to
research in the field of Power
Semiconductor Devices. He has
published over 120 journal and
conference research papers as well
as several invited Keynote
Lectures, and has held several
research grants from funding
councils, Advantage West Midland (AWM),
as well as from industry. He is a
regular reviewer for many journals
(including IEE Proceeding
Electronic devices and systems,
IEEE Transactions on power
electronics, and Microelectronic
Reliability) and international
conferences (including the
European Power Electronic
conference - EPE, Microelectronic
conference - MIEL, Universities
Power Engineering Conference-UPEC,
International Symposium Power
Semiconductors-ISPS, etc…). He is
a member of scientific committee
for many international conferences
(including MIEL, EPE, WCE, WSEAS,
and Microtherm) and a steering
committee member for EPE, UPEC,
and ISPS international
conferences. He is also a book
reviewer for Prentice Hall
International and McGraw Hill.
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