Study of power devices for use in phase-leg at cryogenic temperature

As air traffic has been increasing in recent years, the environmental impact of aviation is more obvious, forcing governments to impose stringent regulations on emissions. In order to meet these regulations, and reduce the carbon footprint, research has been directed towards the all-electric and hybrid aircraft, where the use of cryogenic HTS machines and cables has been proposed to reduce the overall size of the aircraft. With the cryogenic system already in place, research has been exploring the use of power electronics at lower temperatures in order to obtain systems with higher power densities and lower losses. In this paper several power semiconductor devices are tested at room and cryogenic temperature in order to evaluate their performance at lower temperature. One of the tested devices, a 'CoolMOS' superjunction MOSFET, is used in a single voltage source phase-leg which is experimented with at room and cryogenic temperature to evaluate its efficiency as a primary indication of its usefulness in the All-Electric Aircraft.