L
News
Wednesday, January 22, 2014 • page 10
Semiconductor technologies key to revitalizing U.S. manufacturing industry
Stephanie Lamm
Assistant News Editor
Earlier this week, President Barrack
Obama announced that North Carolina
State University will serve as the head of
his manufacturing technologies initiative.
This public-private partnership between
universities, companies and research in
stitutions will work to create more effi
cient and sustainable methods of power
ing electronics.
For the past 50 years, electronic devices
have relied on silicon-based semicon
ductors to convert electrical energy into
power. A semiconductor is made up of a
conductive metal and an insulator, such as
silicon, which allows for better control of
electrical currents.
These semiconductors are present in
devices such as laptops, cell phones and
industrial motors. Silicon Valley was built
on the use of silicon semiconductors.
Since the 1970s, the semiconductor
industry followed Moore’s Law, which
states that integrated circuits will double
their transistor capacity every two years.
This explains why cell phones, televisions
and computers have become smaller in
recent years.
But, as technology has improved, the
industry has outgrown the capabilities of
silicon chips. Silicon materials use high
amounts of energy and are prone to over
heating and failure.
President Obama’s Next Generation
Power Electronics Innovation Institute
plans to shift the industry from produc
ing silicon semiconductors to relying on
wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors.
“In a global economy, a company has to
keep inventing and innovating in order to
stay on the cutting edge,” Obama said.
WBG semiconductors can operate at
twice the maximum temperature of silicon
chips. The new semiconductors would
also be able to withstand 10 times higher
frequencies and 10 times higher voltage
than silicon chips can manage. According
to a statement by the U.S. Department of
Energy, WBG semiconductors could cut
energy use by 20 percent and reduce en-
ergy waste by 90 percent.
WBG materials include silicon-carbide,
zinc-oxide, gallium-nitride, diamond and
others. On average, these materials yield
three times the bandgap energy (eV) as
silicon-based conductors.
Silicon-carbide, the most popular WBG,
is currently in use and expected to grow
in popularity. Gallium-nitride, a WBG
material that is used to read Blu-ray
Discs, has a smaller market and is more
expensive than silicon-carbide. Research
initiatives plan to bring the cost down
significantly in the next few years.
RF Micro Devices (RFMD), based
in Greensboro, focuses on developing
WBG semiconductors. In a statement
from RFMD, the company said they
plan to use money from the institute to
develop gallium-nitride semiconductor
technology, which is predicted to be a
$334 million industry by 2017 according
to Strategy Analytics.
Electronic devices manufactured with
WBG semiconductors are cheaper, more
energy efficient and more compact than
those made from silicon. This opens up
new design opportunities for personal de
vices including cell phones, laptops and
tablets, as well as industrial machinery.
Jason Kekas, co-founder and chief tech
nology officer of ImagineOptix, a compa
ny that produces lenses, optics and prisms
on micro-film, said “This technology
could allow for light projectors in very
small devices, like cell phones.”
Dennis Kekas, interim executive director
of the Next Generation Power Electron
ics Institute and father of Jason Kekas,
said: “I’m most excited for improved mo
tor drives in electric vehicles. Right now
you have those mammoth contraptions
under the hood, but widegap broadband
would streamline the design.”
WBG semiconductors could reduce the
cost of electric cars by reducing the size
of the cooling system needed. This tech-
nology would allow the system to charge
faster and reduce the overall cost of man
ufacturing electric vehicles.
The Next Generation Power Electron
ics Institute has ambitious plans for a
complete restructuring of the power grid.
WBG semiconductors would allow large
CAROLINE OLNEY j Photo Editor
The initiative unveiled at Wednesday’s speech pushed for more efficient semiconductors.
areas of the power grid to convert to DC
operation. Most household appliances
and personal devices run on direct cur
rent (DC) power.
These devices must convert AC grid
power to usable DC power, wasting up to
5 percent of all energy used in U.S. homes.
Devices such as solar panels, electric cars
and geothermal energy are based on DC
power. With a grid run on DC power,
these devices would not have to waste en
ergy converting to AC power for the grid.
In a statement, the U.S. Department
of Energy said, “WBG semiconductors
could help reduce the size of an 8,000 lbs.
substation to 100 lbs. and the size of a
suitcase - ultimately helping to lower the
cost of electricity and build a stronger,
more reliable grid.”
In an interview with the “MIT Tech
nology Review,” Greg Reed, Director of
the Power and Energy Initiative at The
University of Pittsburgh, said “within the
next 20 years we could definitely see as
much as 50 percent of our total [electric
ity consumption] made up of DC con
sumption.”
By 2030, the initiative hopes to reduce
the amount of carbon dioxide emissions
by 14 billion tons, saving the U.S. $3.3
billion in energy spending.
“This technology will be a huge step in
clean energy. There will be less energy
wasted,” Dennis Kekas said.
While the benefits from this technology
are potentially industry-changing, North
Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan notes that
WBG materials and devices cost three to
five times more than silicon semiconduc
tors. Senator Hagan says she hopes the
initiative will work to reduce the cost.
WBG semiconductors are still in the
early stages of development. Since there
have only been experimental prototypes,
research and development are a key com
ponents of the institute.
“These prototypes are very experimental,
but very promising,” said Michael Hoit,
vice chancellor of information technology
at NC State University. “They wouldn’t
be investing this much money if the pro
gram didn’t show real promise. However,
we still need another five to 10 years of
research.”
Although this technology is still under
development, Kekas said he is confident
products will start utilizing WBG con
ductors within the next few years.
“This project will reach beyond RTP.
This institute is part of a plan to revital
ize U.S. manufacturing,” Dennis Kekas
said.