Power Up

PCIM has hosted a lot of companies that are playing to the sound of GaN and SiC, but not only. Semiconductors for electric vehicles, the energy revolution, all these are part of an ecosystem that is evolving at a fast speed. Let’s listen to some of the speakers I met at PCIM. Thank you for taking the time to show me your products and innovations. It has really been a pleasure to meet you all!

In this episode of the embedded edge with Nitin podcast, we talk to the CEO of RISC-V International, Calista Redmond, on the growth in adoption of the RISC-V instruction set architecture, underlining the Intel announcement earlier this year as being the pivotal point in the history of RISC-V. Our second guest, Steve Pawlowski, who leads Micron’s advanced computing solutions group, talks about brain-inspired computing, underlining the limitations of modern computing systems which consume far too much energy to deliver the artificial intelligence-based systems we desire. He said that to truly scale, AI needs to be much more efficient, and should take our cues from the human brain.

Power conversion systems are at the heart of every electronic device, from home appliances, laptops and data centers, but also electric vehicles. In this podcast with Thierry Bouchet, CEO of Wise-Integration, we will discover the advantages of GaN for power conversion solutions. Wise-Integration, a spin-off from CEA-LETI, is a company that develops GaN integrated solutions from TSMC to miniaturize power supplies and improve energy efficiency.

Many people from academia and industry had the chance to discuss the most recent developments in GaN and SiC during the latest edition of APEC, which was held March 21–24, 2022 in Houston. During the conference, I had the opportunity to speak with so many experts and ventured further and further into this amazing power electronics ecosystem.

Global power demand is expected to double by 2040 and could increase fivefold by 2060 as electrification expands to new applications. In this podcast, we’ll hear from Glenn Weinreb, director of the Manhattan 2 project and Dr. Neil Mitchell, former director of the ITER magnet development initiative for Fusion Energy.

Gallium nitride improves the efficiency of power-conversion stages. GaN is attractive because it has higher energy efficiency, smaller size, reduced weight, and cheaper total cost than silicon. In this podcast with Andrea Bricconi, VP of Business Development at Cambridge GaN Devices, we will analyze the latest technologies of this wide bandgap ecosystem that will drive the next improvements.

In several energy industries, the silicon carbide (SiC) industry is expanding to provide highly efficient and Silicon carbide (SiC) is expanding in several energy industries to deliver extremely efficient and compact solutions. Many companies are evaluating and investing in wafer technology because of the importance of silicon carbide in fields such as e-mobility and new energy. In this podcast with Peter Gammon, Professor of SiC Power Devices at Warwick University and Founder of PGC Consultancy, we’ll look at the cost and technology of SiC. Peter Gammon is the author of over 100 publications and patents that have contributed to the increased efficiency of SiC transistors and diodes used in today’s electric vehicles.

This contest challenges hardware designers from all over the world to develop an innovative design project for a motor control system with the Arduino Portenta H7 board. In this podcast with Anne-Francoise Pelè, Editor-in-Chief of EE Times Europe, we present the winners and the selected projects. In April, the winners will present their projects to the industry community.

GaN power devices are ideal for energy-efficient and compact power conversion systems. Vertical GaN technology could offer the full potential of GaN’s material properties as it is based on GaN substrates. Our guest is Robert Kaplar, Manager of the Semiconductor Material and Device Sciences Department at Sandia National Laboratories.

On the PowerUp Podcast: Combatting climate change will require a restructuring of the power industry. The time has come to transition from fossil fuels to carbon-neutral energy generated by renewable sources. Our guest is Glenn Weinreb, director of The Manhattan 2 Project, and author of over 18 articles for Power Electronics News about ways to combat climate change.