【Industry News】The Future Potential of Gallium Oxide Promotes the Research Heat in the Academic Circle

Good News/Congratulations to the two teams of our college who were voted as the 2022 Graduate Student Excellent Study Style (Demonstration) Team of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University

Results of the 2022 Graduate Student Excellent Study Style (Demonstration) Team of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University

Zhejiang Sci-tech University Gallium Oxide Team

wins the award of "Demonstration Team of Excellent Style of Study"

The Second Party Branch of Graduate Department of Psychology

wins the award of "Excellent Style of Study Team"

01  Zhejiang Sci-tech University Gallium Oxide Team

Team leader: Zhao Tianli

Supervising Teachers: Wu Fengmin, Liu Aiping, Wang Shunli, Guo Daoyou, Wu Chao, Hu Haizheng

Team members: Zhao Tianli, Cheng Yuexing, Lai Li, Chang Mengmeng, Xiao Hou’en, Deng Lipeng, Ma Yanxiu, Xing Zhiwen, Yuan Jiahao, Qian Songcheng, Ye Junhao, He Huaile, Ji Chihao, Guo Xi, Yang Donghui, Lu Pudong, Chen Min, Chen Jiahao, Jin Shuo, Zhang Guang, Xu Hangjie, Jin Renjie

Team profile

Based on the School of Science of Zhejiang University of Science and Technology and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Light Field Regulation Technology, the Gallium Oxide Team of Zhejiang Sci-tech University has been committed to the basic and industrial application research of the growth, physical properties and devices of ultra-wide band gap semiconductor materials for a long time. The research group has accumulated rich academic achievements, and the academic atmosphere is positive, harmonious and harmonious. In the process of experiment and competition, the team members fully reflected the students helping each other while discussing and studying.

Accumulate richly and break forth vastly: the gallium oxide team's long innovation "core" road

To meet Demands of the Nation, Adhere to the original aspiration

      The gallium oxide team belongs to Academician Hao Yue's team, and has been committed to carrying out relevant research for major national strategies and needs. With the continuous progress of technology in the application field, the demand for high-voltage power devices with smaller volume and smaller weight is increasing. Meanwhile, driven by the development of electric vehicles and communication base stations, the emergence of more efficient power electronic devices is expected. Gallium oxide material has excellent material characteristics such as large band width, high critical breakdown field strength and easily controllable N-type doping, so it can provide better solutions for the future power grid, electric traction, electric vehicles and high-power weapons and equipment, which has great social value and academic significance. At present, the research difficulties of gallium oxide-based power devices mainly focus on the low breakdown performance of actual devices, no P-type materials and the difficulty of preparing the vertical structure of devices. Therefore, our team adopted the strategy of division of labor and cooperation and breaking one by one. After systematically studying advanced gallium oxide based Schottky barrier diode, heterogenous PN junction, horizontal junction field effect transistors and vertical Finfet power devices, the prepared gallium oxide power devices all reached the highest level in the world.

Though the destination is far, persiverance leads to the goal.

      At the beginning of scientific research, we were faced with many unknowns and frustrations. When we first started to contact with gallium oxide devices, we were often confused about the future and the research direction. At this time, we would consult our tutor Academician Hao Yue, and Mr.Hao would patiently put forward a lot of valuable opinions on our research ideas, from the formulation of the general direction to the control of small experimental details, and devoted a lot of efforts to us. Every time coming out of Mr.Hao's office, everyone feels suddenly enlightened, and with great confidence we continue the research aiming at the difficulties. On the road of scientific research, there are many stories full of pain and happiness. In order to complete the experiment efficiently, we often schedule the experiment in full capacity, starting at 9 a. m. in the morning and ending at 12 p. m. Because the experiment must be carried out in the clean room, many times we do not even have the chance to drink a drop of water, and sometimes even because of the tight schedule, we delete the meals from the schedule. Although the process of doing the experiment was very hard, after that, when the new data was made, everyone was very excited, and felt that all the pain and fatigue has been paid off. Investing in time and being willing to endure hardships do not necessarily yield achievement. Each experiment requires fine design and careful execution. In practice, the experimental plan is often disrupted because of some details that are easy to ignore. Once we tested the samples. We had been doing the test for the whole morning, but the curve was shaking. We called Professor Zhou Hong, Mr.Zhou came to check our parameter settings and equipment wiring and found that there was no problem. He touched the top of the equipment, said: "Let's go to eat, the equipment is too hot, let it calm down, let’s test again after the meal.” Then after the lunch, we were back to test and the curve was really normal. Sometimes it is a detail that matters most, just as microelectronics. Every detail requires patience and perseverance, such as collecting data, analyzing data, completing reports, and making conclusions. Most importantly, each step requires both expertise and experience. Only by virtue of their own wisdom and practice, practical and careful, can we complete a successful experiment.

The more you know, the more you do

      After learning the registration news of the "Core" Competition, though we have never participated in this competition, relying on the tacit understanding cultivated in the same research group for many years, we decided to sign up immediately. The day before the registration, the "gallium oxide team" teamed up successfully, the power of three people twisted into a rope, to sprint to the highest goal. Because the research direction highly fit, we have a clear target from the beginning, after carefully browse the entry notice, previous excellent works, and consulting from those who achieved good results the past “Core” Competition, we confirmed the focus of the game, studied the lack of professional knowledge, finally determined the report titled "Research Based on High-power Gallium Oxide Diodes and Field-effect Transistors ". After the title was determined, in the preparation of the preliminary competition, based on the previous scientific research accumulation of each person, we divided the work smoothly. Then the animation was added on the basis of the original PPT, so that the whole work was more intuitively displayed to the audience. "In the  part of presentation, the three of us made simulation prearrangement for many times to control the speed and intonation of the explanation. In this process, we corrected the content and constantly polished the final version. Hard work pays off. We successfully entered the final of the "Core" Competition. It was August. under the leading of the college teachers, we came to Hangzhou, the venue of the final, ——, which is famous as the "Famous Southeast County". The final is divided into two rounds. The first round is the online computer test and the offline written test, and the second round is the road show defense. The computer test link is our weak item, so time and efficiency are the key to win this link. Before the competition, we had practiced the question bank for nearly five years and reviewed the basic knowledge. During the competition, we worked together and continuously optimized the simulation content. Fortunately, the two questions in the computer test were closely related to our research direction, so we passed the first round of the competition smoothly and entered the final sprint of the national final. Late at night before the final defense, we also contacted Mr.Zhou Hong through the remote video conference, rehearsed the defense PPT, and further improved the report content. In the afternoon of the final defense, we were the first one and was nervous at the beginning, but when recalling the encouragement and affirmation given by the teachers, our anxious heart gradually calmed down. According to the previous rehearsed simulation report, we presented the research significance, research content, project results and future imagination in detail. In the question and answer session, we also gave full play to what we had learned and thought. In the end, relying on the solid professional foundation and the research results with innovative and practical significance, we stood out from the 503 teams nationwide and won the highest award of the competition, "Creative Core Star".

NREL Shows off the New Gallium Oxide Module

      For Faisal Khan, chief researcher at power electronics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), working in renewable energy is a personal matter. Khan grew up in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka, one of the most densely populated cities in the world. While his family struggled with air pollution from cars and two-stroke motorcycles, he saw people struggle with power outages from a national grid failure. The quality of power became so bad that in the tenth grade, Khan and several members of his local science club taught themselves how to build a UPS uninterrupted power supply so their families could get backup power during a blackout. Now, as the chief researcher at power electronics at —— NREL, the only US national laboratory focused on renewable energy, Khan is leading a transformation project at the lab focusing on an ultra-broadband gap material called gallium oxide. The project covers three different NREL research centers: the Integrated Mobile Science Center, of which Khan is a part; the Materials Science Center; and the Power Systems Engineering Center. The team's goal is to make NREL a one-stop factory capable of manufacturing new gallium oxide power modules with built-in intelligent and advanced cooling systems. Khan explained that the power module works like Lego blocks: once put into an electric car, such as a car or even an airplane, it uses gallium oxide to convert the battery voltage (in DC form) into the three-phase alternating current required to drive the motor. This is standard practice for most electric vehicles, which use power modules to charge and convert battery power to run motors and variable speeds. But the NREL design is absolutely unique. Usually, power modules require a small amount of power to operate, and normally they are connected to a high-voltage system via cables or wires. Khan led the NREL team to design a fully wirelessly powered power module. With no special wiring, the device is compatible with a wider range of electric vehicles. In addition, the NREL design will be even stronger than the commercial power module. Due to the special characteristics of gallium oxide (a powerful, highly robust semiconductor material), the device will be able to withstand the high temperature generated by the internal switching operation of the power converter. The team is also working on making the device "smart": it will be equipped with a block that can wirelessly monitor the health of the module and predict component failures before component failures occur, helping to make electric vehicles more reliable than ever before. The power module being developed by the Khan team is designed to facilitate manufacturing. Khan estimates that the entire traction inverter can be built in about 30 minutes due to its wireless control and monitoring system. Each of its additional features, from thermal management to real-time monitoring of the health status of systems, is designed to make power conversion systems attractive to industry adopters.