Proceedings of the IEEE

By the end of the first World War, it must have seemed that the development of electric lighting had reached its peak. Tungsten filament lamps were firmly established as the best light for most purposes, even though arc lamps were still widely used out of doors. Other ways of making light were also being investigated, though none were as simple and convenient as filament lamps. Most promising were the gas discharge lamps, especially those using mercury vapor. This paper discusses the laboratory research in London on discharge lamps including the gas, glass and quartz used in the lamps. The wire heating elements used in such lamps are also discussed.

Silicon offers multiple advantages to power circuit designers, but at the same time suffers from limitations that are inherent to silicon material properties, such as low bandgap energy, low thermal conductivity, and switching frequency limitations. Wide bandgap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), provide larger bandgaps, higher breakdown electric field, and higher thermal conductivity. Power semiconductor devices made with SiC and GaN are capable of higher blocking voltages, higher switching frequencies, and higher junction temperatures than silicon devices. SiC is by far the most advanced material and, hence, is the subject of attention from power electronics and systems designers. This paper looks at the benefits of using SiC in power electronics applications, reviews the current state of the art, and shows how SiC can be a strong and viable candidate for future power electronics and systems applications.