Benedetto Buono from Italy came to School of ICT as an exchange student at an Erasmus Mundus program. After that he stayed as a PhD student and in June he defended his PhD thesis "Simulation and Characterization of Silicon Carbide Bipolar Junction Transistors".
PhD Benedetto Buono
Where are you from and where did you study before coming to school of ICT?
– I am from Ischia, a small island near Naples in Italy. I have studied at the Universitá degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II" in Naples. However, before the PhD, I was already at School of ICT as exchange student during an Erasmus Mundus program.
What is your topic and why did you choose it?
– My topic is "Simulation and Characterization of Silicon Carbide Bipolar Junction Transistors". I chose this topic because my supervisor proposed it to me, but, through the years, I have found it very interesting and challeging.
Describe your topic in short
– Once electrical energy is produced (it can be by a solar panel, a wind generator, a battery in an electric car etc.), it undergoes several conversions in order to be finally utilized. This conversion has to be as efficient as possible in order to minimize the energy wasted during the process. Silicon carbide (SiC) is believed to improve this efficency due to its suitable electrical and thermal properties, and it has been chosen to replace silicon in high voltage applications. The SiC bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is one the power switches that is now developed. My researched work has focused on building a physical model to simulate the BJT performance.
Tell us something about your results
The first part of my PhD consisted in developing an accurate modeling to simulate actual devices. The second part consisted in trying to improve the device performance. Therefore, we have proposed a modification to the standard design to improve the current gain of high-voltage BJTs.
What will the future bring for your research topic?
This research topic is becoming more and more important because it has been demonstrated that SiC devices can largerly improve the efficiency of the power electronic systems.
What are your future plans?
My plan is to stay in Sweden and continue my work in the industry.
