IIT Guwahati Researchers Develop Special Semiconductor for High-Power Applications

A team of researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati in collaboration with a team of IIT Mandi and the Institute of Sensor and Actuator Systems, Technical University Wien have developed a special semiconductor which can be used in high-power applications like electric vehicles, high-voltage transmission, traction and industry automation.

The research group has created a new and affordable method for cultivating gallium oxide, an ultrawide bandgap semiconductor material.

The research was led by Dr Ankush Bag, Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Centre for Nanotechnology.

According to IIT Guwahati, this semiconductor has the potential to significantly enhance the efficiency of power electronics used in high-power applications such as electric vehicles, high-voltage transmission, traction, and industry automation, among others.

Emphasising on the need of this research, Ankush Bag, assistant professor, Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT-Guwahati, said, "Power semiconductor devices are the heart of every power electronic system and function primarily as efficient switches, toggling ON and OFF to condition incoming power from grid to be used by end-user. For emerging high-power applications, there is a demand for compound semiconductor materials with an ultra-wide bandgap".

Power electronic systems are essential for the regulation and direction of electrical power. They are critical for transforming electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind, as well as non-renewable sources such as thermal power plants, into a format that can be used by end-users in terms of voltage, current, and frequency.

The passage implies that losses are inevitable when electrical energy flows through a standard power electronic system.

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