The PowerUP Expo is a free three-day virtual conference and exhibition focusing on power electronics. Power electronics involves a whole range of critical applications, from electrification to smart grids–all of which ST plays a role in.

This year’s PowerUP virtual event will “Driving the Future of Power Electronics”. Power electronics technologies have undergone a radical transformation following the introduction of wide-bandgap (WBG) devices, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). These materials, in fact, have characteristics that make them particularly suitable for applications that operate at high voltages and high switching frequencies. To fully exploit the potential offered by wide-bandgap semiconductors, designers must understand the challenges of these materials.

ST will have a keynote, expert presentation, and virtual booth at the virtual event - we hope you can join us!

More information about the event is available at https://www.powerup-expo.com/

 

Registration now open!

Panel Discussion about SiC & GaN Solutions: Recent Developments and the Next Challenges to Overcome

ST Panelist: Roberto Crisafulli, Director, GaN & RF Business Unit, STMicroelectronics
Date: June 27
Time: 5:45 pm – 6:30 pm GMT+2

The global wide-bandgap landscape has been marked by growth and increasing industrial acceptability. Companies are developing an extensive portfolio of devices that promise benefits in a variety of applications for industrial, automotive and consumer markets, among others, as technology continues to evolve. Wide-bandgap semiconductors like silicon carbide and gallium nitride are giving the right input to the market by providing new answers to the problems that designers face in an era in which the watchword is “efficiency.” This panel discussion will bring together experts in the field of wide-bandgap semiconductors to analyze their potential in power systems. Our panelists will explore the current issues facing engineers in multiple application contexts that need high reliability, as well as the barriers that still need to be overcome for wider adoption and, consequently, to generate improved performance and cheaper costs that will benefit the industry overall.

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Next steps in density and efficiency with ST PowerGaN, STM32G4 and STGAP2G in 1.2 kW GaN CCM Totem-Pole PFC implementation

ST Presenter: Gianni Vitale, Application Director
Date: June 28
Time: 10:30am – 10:50 am EDT

Power density and efficiency for switching converters has made a major step forward with the presence in the market of Gallium nitride (GaN) technology, superior performances of the new WBG technology are now driving the development of consumer chargers towards miniaturization and targeting power conversion stages in server and EV applications. Along with the GaN technology, controllers, gate drivers, passive components and topologies need to be reviewed and adapted to the higher switching frequency operation. The 1.2 kW GaN CCM Totem-Pole PFC reference power stage is here introduced to combine the new 65mohm E-mode G-HEMT™, the STM32G4 featuring a high-resolution timer for very high switching frequency operation and the STGAP2G galvanic isolated gate driver designed to drive GaN devices to reach 99% efficiency for easy thermal design and compliance to challenging 80 Plus Titanium specification.

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ST Keynote: Silicon never fails to surprise -  the case for superjunction MDmesh™

Presenter: Filippo Di Giovanni, Innovation and Key Programs Manager, Power Transistor MACRO Division, STMicroelectronics
Date: June 29
Time: 8:50am (ET)

Silicon has been the main material in manufacturing semiconductors. It has been used for decades and has become pervasive in our everyday life, used in practically everything we touch. Despite being so well-established, engineers and designers still find ways to improve it and continue to invent ways to deploy the array of microprocessors, sensors, MEMS, and power devices allowing it to be used in across a large spectrum of applications. Special design efforts and creativity in high-voltage power transistors have led   to MDmesh™ technology, based on the concept of super junctions. Thanks to unique process steps including Trench, that have been successfully debugged in power transistors, new-generation MDmesh MOSFETs can still evolve to yield even more advanced versions. These new iterations match requirements for increased performance and cost targets in Automotive and Industrial sectors. In fact, even with the recent development and industrialization of WBG technologies, silicon-based power devices and WBG semiconductors can co-exist and deliver great value to end users who can count on more product options.