Tutorial Title: Gallium nitride power transistor reliability and deployment in power electronic systems.

This talk provides an in-depth exploration of the switching reliability of gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors. Gallium nitride (GaN) devices are a necessary technology needed for advancing the efficiency, frequency, and form factor of power electronics. The material composition, architecture, and physics of many GaN devices are significantly different from silicon and silicon carbide devices. These distinctions result in unique stability, reliability, and robustness issues facing GaN power devices. The current understanding of these issues, particularly those related to dynamic switching, and their impacts on system performance from the perspective of a power electronics engineer will be presented. Additionally, the necessary information for deploying GaN devices in the existing and emerging applications, will also be addressed.

Presenters’  Information

Joseph Kozak, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Joseph P. Kozak received the B.S. degree in engineering physics and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Center for Power Electronic Systems (CPES), Virginia Tech. Since then, he has been a senior electrical engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU-APL), and is currently serving as the chief technologist in the spacecraft power engineering group. Joseph’s current research interests include robustness, reliability, and physics of failure of new wide bandgap semiconductors, and their packaging and implementation into high-reliability, power electronic converters and systems. He is a member of IEEE and currently serves as the vice-chair of the IEEE PELS Student and Young Professionals Committee, and chair of the PELS Day Committee.