Book excerpt: During the last 30 years, significant progress has been made to improve our understanding of gallium nitride and silicon carbide device structures, resulting in experimental demonstration of their enhanced performances for power electronic systems. Gallium nitride power devices made by the growth of the material on silicon substrates have gained a lot of interest. Power device products made from these materials have become available during the last five years from many companies.This comprehensive book discusses the physics of operation and design of gallium nitride and silicon carbide power devices. It can be used as a reference by practicing engineers in the power electronics industry and as a textbook for a power device or power electronics course in universities.