Researchers at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory have developed a new silicon carbide-based power module which they say can deliver up to five times greater energy density than previous designs while improving efficiency, as rising demand from artificial intelligence data centres and advanced manufacturing strains global energy systems.
The technology, known as the Ultra-Low Inductance Smart (ULIS) power module, aims to help industrial users extract more usable power from existing electricity supplies while reducing cost, size, and energy losses.
In an official statement, NREL says the module represents a step change in power electronics performance, with implications for data centres, factory automation, power grids, and high-intensity transport systems.
Global electricity demand is being pushed higher by energy-intensive computing workloads and increasingly automated manufacturing lines. In industrial automation, where efficiency, reliability, and thermal management are critical, power electronics play a central role in converting and controlling electricity for motors, drives, robots, and control systems.
ULIS uses silicon carbide semiconductors to achieve up to five times greater power density than previous NREL designs, according to the laboratory, while fitting into a smaller and lighter package. Rated at 1,200 volts and 400 amps, the module is designed for high-power applications including data centres, grid infrastructure, microreactors, and heavy-duty vehicles, with potential crossover into industrial automation systems that require compact, high-performance power conversion.
A key technical advance is ULIS’ exceptionally low parasitic inductance, the resistance to changes in electrical current that limits the speed and efficiency of power conversion. NREL says the module’s inductance is seven to nine times lower than that of current state-of-the-art silicon carbide power modules, enabling faster switching and lower energy losses.
“We consider ULIS to be a true breakthrough,” said Faisal Khan, NREL’s Chief Power Electronics Researcher and the Principal Investigator for the project. “It’s a future-proofed, ultrafast power module that will make the next generation of power converters more affordable, efficient, and compact.”
For industrial automation, faster and cleaner switching can translate into smaller power cabinets, higher system uptime, and reduced cooling requirements, all of which are increasingly important as factories deploy more robotics, machine vision, and AI-enabled control systems.
Beyond efficiency, Khan said ULIS was designed with reliability in mind. The module includes built-in monitoring that allows it to assess its own state of health and predict component failures before they occur, a feature that could be particularly valuable in mission-critical industrial and infrastructure environments.
“ULIS was a truly organic effort, built entirely in-house here at NREL,” Khan said. “We are very excited to demonstrate its strengths in real-world settings.”
The performance gains are underpinned by a fundamentally new physical design. Conventional power modules typically stack semiconductor devices inside rigid, brick-like housings. ULIS instead uses a flat, octagonal layout, with circuits wound around a disk-like structure that allows more devices to be packed into a smaller footprint.
This geometry also enables improved magnetic flux cancellation, reducing electrical noise and losses. “Our biggest concern was that the device switches off and on very quickly, and we needed a layout that wouldn’t create a chokepoint within the design,” said Shuofeng Zhao, an NREL Power Electronics Researcher who designed the module’s flux-cancellation architecture.
Early concepts explored three-dimensional designs, including a flower-shaped layout and a hollow cylinder with components mounted internally. These approaches proved too complex or expensive to manufacture at scale. The breakthrough came when the team flattened the structure into a near-two-dimensional design.
“We squished it flat, like a pancake,” Zhao said, “and suddenly we had a low-cost, high-performing design that was much easier to fabricate.”
Sarwar Islam, another NREL Power Electronics Researcher, proposed the two-dimensional structure, while Joshua Major developed fabrication techniques that allowed the intricate architecture to be produced using only NREL’s existing tools and laboratory facilities.
Materials innovation also helped reduce cost and weight. Traditional power modules bond copper directly to ceramic substrates to conduct electricity and manage heat. ULIS bonds copper to a flexible polymer called Temprion, creating a thinner and more configurable assembly.
Because the polymer bonds using pressure and heat alone, and can be machined with widely available equipment, NREL says manufacturing costs are in the hundreds of dollars rather than the thousands typically associated with high-performance power modules.
ULIS also incorporates a wireless, low-latency communication system that allows the module to operate as a self-contained unit, controlled and monitored without external cabling. This modular, plug-and-play approach could simplify integration into industrial systems, from data centre power racks to factory automation equipment. A patent for the wireless communication protocol, led by Islam, is pending.
While the current version of ULIS uses silicon carbide semiconductors, the design has been intentionally future-proofed. NREL says it can be adapted for next-generation materials including gallium nitride and gallium oxide, potentially extending performance gains as semiconductor technology advances.
For the industrial automation sector, the combination of higher efficiency, compact design, predictive health monitoring, and lower manufacturing costs could support more flexible and energy-efficient factory architectures, particularly as electrification and AI adoption accelerate.
