This award supports a U.S.- China planning visit to develop partnerships for research and education on SiGe (silicon-germanium) power devices and dc-dc power converters. The visit will enable Professor Jiann Yuan in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Central Florida in Orland to meet with Professor Jun Xu, Director of the Microelectronics Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and Professor Dehong Xu, Vice Dean for the College of Electrical Engineering at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Their proposed project will involve the design and analysis of a power converter on a chip concept. Their objective is to achieve a record-setting 40% on-resistance reduction with a low cost CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor). The ultimate goal is to provide research and education experiences for U.S. students in China. Energy conservation and environmental protection are two major challenges faced by today?s communities. Power management technology holds the key to potential annual savings of $400 billion in electrical energy worldwide. A high performance SiGe power MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) in the power management market will help meet the challenge in conserving energy and protecting the environment.
There is sufficient overlap of interests between faculty at the three universities to indicate that the researchers can successfully pursue the activities proposed, and that the interaction will benefit both sides. The research will have broad impact in the power management area. It is anticipated that the inclusion of two U.S. graduate students in this visit will provide them unique training and education opportunities by providing them a global research experience. These early collaborations between the scientists and students from each country will likely lead to long-term collaborations that will benefit both institutions.
