Power Devices for Automotive Applications - Reviews of Technologies for Low Power Dissipation and High Ruggedness -

Electronics technology is indispensable for improving automotive performance. Especially, in electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), electric systems are the heart of the automobile. Power devices are one of the most important components of car electronics systems and they are applied to many systems, for example, oil-pressure valve control of the ABS system, and motor control of the power windows or inverter system of an electric vehicle that converts the DC voltage of the battery into AC voltage. Therefore, the power devices that have low power dissipation and high ruggedness are definitely required in order to realize a reduced cost of the automotive systems. In this paper, I review the characteristics of the power devices that are used in automotive applications, and the technologies that realize the low power dissipation and high ruggedness.