Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1172746
16 SMT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2019 our role and our value proposition. There's the ability for us to drive greater value-added ser- vices as well as a greater opportunity for us to have an orientation of partnership to others. We do things today that were out of the norm a few years ago. Although it's not always easy to implement into your business model, an example is when customers come to us for connectors. These connectors need to have five or six various components coming together to become a connector assembly. Is that some- thing we want to do, or can we partner with someone to have that function performed for us? At the same time, you incorporate options into your services so that the user experience is very solid. We're doing those things today. We're tak- ing that orientation and moving forward. How much more could we do? We're in the middle of a large expansion where we've touted our 2.2 million additional square feet, which is a siz- able commitment to stocking things, but what more could this support? What more could we incorporate into this facility? Can we become more proficient? I use the phrase "value-added services" broadly, but could we be a de facto value-added supplier? One thing we know is that in our user com- munity, as well as in our supplier commu- nity, the word "solution" is becoming a com- mon term. We want to drive solutions, but we think we're in a strong position to be an aggregator of all of these suppliers and incor- porate the solution. It's difficult for a stand- alone semiconductor, IP&E, or industrial automation organization to provide the total solution. We're in this position where we are asked why couldn't we aggregate and truly be a one-stop shop for a solution-based equation? That changes things for us, but it's back to that business readiness conversation, because it plays into where the technology is going. For instance, I never thought we'd be into data plans or cloud services—things that are differ - ent than what a traditional distributor would have—but if you're going to play in IoT, you need a data plan solution. That's one more thing that we have to add to our arsenal to be of relevance. SMT007 Part 2 of this interview will appear in the October 2019 issue of Design007 Magazine. densities. This is where conventional devices reach their limits. Scientists all over the world are therefore inves- tigating new materials and components that can meet these requirements. To achieve these improvements, the FBH team tack- led the layer structure and gate topology. The basis was provided by substrates from the Leibniz Institute for Crys- tal Growth with an optimized epitaxial layer structure. As a result, the defect density could be reduced, and electrical proper- ties improved. This leads to lower on-state resistances. The gate topology has been further opti- mized, allowing to reduce high field strengths at the gate edge, which leads to higher breakdown voltages. (Source: FBH) The Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH) has now achieved a breakthrough with transistors based on gallium oxide (ß-Ga2O3). The newly developed ß-Ga2O3-MOSFETs (metal- oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) provide a high breakdown voltage of 1.8 kV and a record power figure of merit of 155 MW/cm2, achieving performance figures close to the theoretical material limit of gallium oxide. At the same time, the breakdown field strengths achieved are significantly higher than those of estab- lished wide bandgap semicon- ductors such as silicon carbide or gallium nitride. On a footprint as small as possible, these MOSFETs should offer low energy consumption and achieve ever-higher power Gallium Oxide Power Transistors With Record Values