| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Electronic Materials and Processing | Thursday Sessions |
| Session EM+MS-ThA |
| Session: | III-N Nitrides II |
| Presenter: | John Muth, North Carolina State University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
As part of the national strategy for the United States to compete in the increasingly competitive global marketplace, a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) is being implemented to create a competitive and sustainable research-to-manufacturing infrastructure for U.S. Industry, academia and government to solve industry relevant problems.
PowerAmerica a $146 million dollar investment by the Department of Energy, Industry and the State of North Carolina is the second NMNI to be announced and with its industry and academic partners has initiated 20 projects focused on manufacturing wide band gap semiconductor devices and demonstrating their advantages in power electronic applications.
The mission of PowerAmerica is to develop advanced manufacturing processes to enable cost competitive, large-scale production of wide bandgap semiconductor-based power electronics, which allow electronic systems to be smaller, faster and more efficient than power electronics made from silicon. Innovations in manufacturing, improvements in reliability and demonstrations of system level advantages are important aspects of PowerAmerica's strategy to accelerate the adoption of wide band gap semiconductors into power electronics.
The number of systems that use power electronics between generation and use is about 20% today and is expected to grow to about 80% by 2030 a wide variety of technologies will be disrupted by the system advantages offered by wide band gap semiconductors. These include electric vehicles, motor drives, data centers, smart grid, photovoltaic and other renewable energy systems as well as niche applications in consumer electronics. In addition to the technical work performed in PowerAmerica a significant effort is being put towards workforce development and education. These efforts will prepare industry to compete in and the next generation of engineers and workers to lead the world into a brighter, more energy efficient world.