IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2018 - 4

From the Editor

by Ashok Bindra

generating the International
technology roadmap for
wide-Bandgap Power Devices

t was clear from the March 2018
issue of IEEE Power Electronics
Magazine that the adoption of
wide-bandgap (WBG) power devices, namely silicon carbide (SiC) and
gallium nitride (GaN), is gaining
momentum. This transition from silicon to WBG devices has been moving rapidly for the last few years.
Taking this change into consideration, the IEEE Power Electronics
Society (PELS) created the International Technology Roadmap for
Wide-Bandgap Power Semiconductors (ITRW) in December 2015, the
overall goal of which is to foster and
promote research, education, innovations, and applications of WBG
technologies globally.
To ensure that the ITRW is global,
transparent, and represents all of the
stakeholders in the field, its steering committee comprises leadership
from IEEE Societies, industry, government, and academia. The ITRW
process is driven by the following
four working groups:
■■devices and materials
■■packaging and integration
■■SiC applications
■■GaN applications.
The focus of this issue of IEEE
Power Electronics Magazine is on
the ITRW process and what it hopes
to accomplish in the next few years.
Accordingly, the first article, "IEEE
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2018.2821781
Date of publication: 14 June 2018

IEEE PowEr ElEctronIcs MagazInE

ITRW: Inter national Technology
Road map for Wide-Bandgap Power
Semiconductors," which is authored
by Prof. Peter R. Wilson of the University of Bath, Un ited K i ngdom,
P r o f . B r a h a m Ferreira and Prof.
Jing Zhang, both of the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands,
as well as Prof. Christina DiMarino of
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, brief ly
describes the ITRW organizational
structure and the associated working
groups. This is followed by four position articles written by representatives from each working group.
■■"IEEE ITRW Working Group Position Paper-Packaging and Integration," by Mark Johnson, Peter R.
Wilson, Lee Empringham, and Liliana De Lillo, all of whom (except
Wilson, who is with the University
of Bath) are with the University of
Nottingham, United Kingdom.
■■"IEEE ITRW Working Group Position
Paper-System Integration and Application: Gallium Nitride," by Mikhail
Guz, David Sanderlin, Ban How Sin,
Michael de Rooij, Tim McDonald,
Phuong Le, Alexander Young, Mike
Seeman, and Jim Walker.
■■"IEEE ITRW Working Group Position Paper-System Integration and
Application: Silicon Carbide," by Jin
Wang, Victor Veliadis, Jon Zhang,
Yazan Alsmadi, Peter R. Wilson,
and Mark J. Scott.
■■"IEEE ITRW Working Group Position Paper-Materials and De vices," by Victor Veliadis, Robert

z June 2018

Kaplar, Jon Zhang, Mietek Bakowski, Sameh Khalil, and Peter Moens.
Next up is the IEEE Applied Power
Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC) 2018 overview, "Exciting
Advances in Power Electronics," by
yours truly and Tom Keim. Aside from
briefly discussing the keynote talks
at the plenary session, which were
delivered by six experts in the field,
this article also highlights key trends
in three-dimensional packaging, electric vehicle (EV) batteries, and other
products and technologies demonstrated on the exhibition floor.
The seventh article titled "Optimum Design Guidelines for the Modular Multilevel Converter in Active
Front-End Applications," by Alinaghi
Marzoughi, Rolando Burgos, and
Dushan Boroyevich from the Center for Power Electronics Systems,
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, is focused
on minimizing the size of passive
elements within the structure of
m o d u l a r multilevel converters in
active front-end applications. Our final article in this issue, "Bidirectional
DC-DC Converter Systems," by David
Bourner of Vicor Corporation, describes how a certain power structure has been used and then adapted to better support bidirectional
power conversion processes.

Two New Columns
There are also two new columns
debuting in this issue," "Passive Components" and "Women in Engineering."

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2018