The feature size of power electronics is fundamentally limited by the dielectric breakdown voltage of materials. Under a high enough voltage potential, even the

The feature size of power electronics is fundamentally limited by the dielectric breakdown voltage of materials. Under a high enough voltage potential, even the best insulator [1] will "break down" and become a conductor The dielectric breakdown voltage of SiO used on wafers is about 2.7x10^9 V/m (2.7 V/nm) so a 600V part that relies on SiO for insulation has to have a minimum gap of at least 222 nm [2] between any conductors that carry that voltage. Cutting edges nodes manufacturing CPUs and stuff generally deal with single digit voltages so while a lot of knowledge can carry over, the meat of the designs are very different. [1] Even a perfect vacuum would breakdown due to the Schwinger effect, but at an astronomical voltage potential like 10^18 V/m. [2] It's actually a lot more complicated at that scale, but it's a useful ballpark value.