Power semiconductors state-of-art and development trends

System integration and high power density of monolithic and multi-chip designs are the driving force for the progress in power electronic systems. The whole system has to be considered and optimized to meet this target and to keep the overall ruggedness, sensitivity towards EMI and long term reliability, Silicon utilization system reliability and power units miniaturization are the key factors. Power semiconductors are primarily used to control the flow of energy between the energy source and the load, and to do so with great precision, with extremely fast control times and with low dissipated power. The drive towards rational use of energy, miniaturization of electrical systems and power management has given impetus to the revolutionary development of power semiconductors and power electronic systems over the last 20 years. In this paper new technologies, advanced devices concepts and future system aspect for industrial segments are discussed. In these fields of applications there are huge requirements towards system dynamic characteristic, overload capability, ruggedness behaviour and reliability. High operating temperatures is required, in the industrial high blocking voltage capabilities are needed.