• Review of MOSFET operation, parasitic components, hard- and soft-switched half-bridge operation, switching loss mechanisms, diode reverse recovery, first-order ZVS and dead-time estimation.
• Interpretation of datasheet parameters (static, dynamic, thermal, SOA), capacitance nonlinearity, gate charge and switching loss estimation, cross-talk due to Miller effect, and overview of discrete, chip-scale, Kelvin-source, module, and IPM packages.
• Origin and modeling of parasitic inductances (package, layout, busbar), impact on overshoot and ringing, crosstalk mechanisms, experimental extraction, and mitigation using gate resistance, snubbers, clamps, component selection, and high-frequency layout fundamentals (loop minimization and flux cancellation).
• Low-side and high-side driver circuits (bootstrap, DC restorer, isolator-based), CMTI considerations, driver IC selection, gate resistance design, power supply generation, and advanced features such as Miller clamp and short-circuit protection.
• Current sensing (shunt, CVR, toroidal, Hall-effect), voltage sensing techniques, isolation methods, signal conditioning, ADC interfacing, filtering, and layout considerations.
• Capacitor technologies (electrolytic, film, ceramic), ESR/ESL effects, impedance modeling, ripple current rating, lifetime estimation, and DC-link and decoupling capacitor design criteria.
• Double Pulse Test design, switching loss measurement accuracy, probe selection, bandwidth requirements, probe parasitics, and differential and isolated measurement techniques for WBG devices.
• Heat transfer fundamentals (conduction, convection, radiation), thermal resistance modeling, heat flow in packages, natural convection heat sink design, and forced air cooling concepts.
• Reference layout analysis for through-hole devices (e.g., TO-247), chip-scale and GaN devices, and SiC module packages.

Text/References:

1. Power MOSFETs: Theory and Applications, 2nd Ed., B. J. Baliga, Academic Press.
2. Characterization of Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductor Devices, Fei Wang, Zheyu Zhang, Edward A. Jones, IET Energy Engineering.
3. GaN Power Devices for Efficient Power Conversion, 4th Ed., Alex Lidow et al., EPC.
4. Gallium Nitride-Enabled High-Frequency and High-Efficiency Power Conversion, G. Meneghesso, M. Meneghini, E. Zanoni, Springer.
5. Thermal Design of Electronic Equipment, Ralph Remsburg, CRC Press.
6. Relevant application notes from Wolfspeed, Texas Instruments, Infineon, etc.