RESURF power semiconductor devices: Performance and operating limits

Power transmission is the transfer of energy from a generating source to a load which uses the energy to perform useful work. Since the end of the 19th century, electrical power transmission has replaced mechanical power transmission in all long distance applications. The alternating current (AC) generator invented by Nikola Tesla allows to efficiently convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and is still used nowadays to power cities all over the world. The transmitted electrical energy often needs to be manipulated before it can be used by the load. For example, the electrical signal has to be amplified (or attenuated) and/or converted into a different waveform. These operations are performed by power electronic circuits acting as an interface between the source and the load. The rapid growth of the semiconductor industry started in the second half of the 20th century has allowed the large scale manufacturing of the semiconductor devices used in modern electronics. As this industry has become more and more mature, it has allowed the system integration of operations of different nature, such as analog/digital processing and electrical power manipulation. This integration is usually referred to as smart power technology. Since the 1990’s, smart power electronic systgems have extensively been used in the automotive and lighting industry. In the next future, with the advent of the internet things (IoT), smart power systems will become more complex and allow the wireless transmission of information between smart objects. This thesis aims at investigating theoretical and experimental methods for the analysis and the performance optimization of the power semiconductor devices used in smart electronic systems. The results are complimentary to those documented in the doctorate thesis of B.K. Boksteen.