Integrated Simulation/Design/Analysis Infrastructure for SiC-based High-Temperature Power Conversion

In order to realize the full potential of Silicon Carbide and to facilitate its deployment in high-temperature power electronics applications, it is important to establish an integrated simulation, design, and analysis infrastructure to address the special considerations and numerous technical challenges that must be overcome and to support design at the device, subsystem, and system levels. The primary objective of this Phase I research is to demonstrate the viability of such an infrastructure. This will be accomplished in the Phase I by developing detailed two-dimensional electrical models of a PiN and SiC Schottky Barrier diode, which will be used as test beds for the Phase I research. Therein, the detailed electrical performance will be established directly from the physical parameters (geometry, doping profiles, and material properties). Concurrently, the feasibility of coupling detailed thermal and electrical models will be investigated and, because of the anticipated computational complexity of the coupled electro-thermo-dynamic equations, their partitioning for solution on a distributed computer network will be explored. Finally, due to the similarities of the underlying systems of equations, the application of this infrastructure to other branches of science and engineering, such as plasma physics, fluid dynamics, and combustion will also be investigated.