The electric vehicle market is driving increased demand for SiC components. Unfortunately, existing PCBA designs often struggle to accommodate them.
SiC chips feature low drain-source on-resistance that reduces energy waste and improves system efficiency, which allows a smaller form factor design with equal power output.
Wolfspeed, onsemi and ROHM are among the key players driving revenue growth by expanding internal wafer capacity to take advantage of an expanding market.
The Future of Microchips
Microchips represent innovation at its finest. From work-from-home electronics and cars to refrigerators and appliances, our lives rely heavily on microchips as they play an essential part of technology that drives it all forward. They’re constantly adapting and evolving with technological trends; therefore it’s vitally important that we understand both their core principles and future trends that shape this field of innovation.
An innovative new prototype chip could pave the way for smarter, network-independent devices. This technology could allow military systems such as drones, ground robots, and soldier headsets to ingest data without depending on a central processing unit or cloud to make sense of it. Furthermore, drones could use it more rapidly detect threats while helping soldiers operate equipment safely in combat zones.
Silicon chips are being gradually phased out in favor of sleeker and more efficient alternatives like silicon carbide (SiC) and system-on-chips (SoC), thanks to an explosion in demand for electric vehicles. SiC and SoC devices boast superior thermal conductivity, wider bandgap, and higher breakdown voltage when compared with silicon, extending driving range per charge while also decreasing battery costs and weight of electric vehicles.
SiC also holds great promise for advancement in renewable energy applications–specifically solar inverters and wind turbine converters–due to its superior efficiency and reliability, prompting manufacturers to expand production capabilities for SiC power semiconductors in order to keep up with an ever-increasing demand for these devices.
Electric Vehicles
As electric vehicle (EV) penetration increases, SiC wafer demand will surge as automakers incorporate its technology in their vehicles. Meeting this rising demand will require significant investments in 200-mm wafer production facilities; incumbent players should focus on improving technologies and cost competitiveness to retain leadership while emerging players should invest in iterative learning to catch up.
SiC’s exceptional electrical properties enable faster switching speeds and energy conversion in electric vehicle power systems, enabling longer range on one charge and speeding consumer adoption of electric vehicles. SiC also facilitates rapid charging times which reduce charging time for enhanced user experiences.
SiC’s high breakdown voltage and lower on-resistance are ideal for improving EV motor control systems, reducing overall system losses and total cost of ownership. Furthermore, SiC can handle higher temperatures to simplify power systems while reducing weight and volume – ultimately cutting costs over the lifetime of a vehicle.
To maximize the potential benefits of SiC, system designers must conduct a complete redesign, including gate drivers, current sensors, capacitors, magnetics and connectors. Wolfspeed and Arrow Electronics have collaborated on an evaluation platform designed specifically to accelerate this process and assist system architects with selecting suitable SiC devices for their specific application.
Aerospace
Aerospace industry comprises the design and production of aircraft, spacecrafts, satellites, missiles and weaponry for use by commercial airlines, private space companies and military organizations. It is driven by technological innovations as well as increasing travel demand and geopolitical tensions that pose threats.
Engineers working in aerospace use complex computer-aided design (CAD) programs to create new designs for aircraft and spacecraft. Additionally, they perform flight, propulsion system, environmental stress/fatigue simulations to identify areas for improvement.
NASA Glenn’s Silicon Carbide (SiC) research aims to produce first prototype sensors and integrated circuits made from SiC wafers purchased commercially, capable of operating reliably in more extreme aerospace conditions than conventional electronics. This research is carried out at their Microsystems Fabrication Laboratory located within Glenn Research Center.
SiC’s higher temperature tolerance makes it suitable for lightweight power management solutions that reduce fuel consumption and emissions in aviation industries, while its unique gate design makes it more resistant to transient ionization events in NMOS power semiconductors, thus decreasing leakage current with increased particle fluence. Furthermore, SiC offers stronger atomic bonds than silicon that provide resistance against radiation damage caused by gamma rays hitting an oxide layer or oxide/semiconductor interface of devices – this makes SiC an excellent material choice for radiation-hardened devices like JFETs than silicon.
Energy Efficiency
As the market demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems grows, so do market forces that demand more efficient and reliable microchips. Leading chipmakers have responded by ramping up production of silicon carbide (SiC) power devices in response to this growing need.
SiC is the perfect semiconductor material for power electronics because of its low switching and conduction losses, which significantly lower energy losses during power conversion processes and translate to greater efficiency and lower operational costs for electric vehicles while simultaneously decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. This makes EV ownership more cost effective while simultaneously decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.
SiC transistors are less susceptible than their silicon counterparts to “body diode bipolar degradation” effects, which occur when thermally liberated electrons flood a device, gathering at base plane dislocations and filling its active area, thus impeding current flow and diminishing performance.
Wolfspeed’s SiC devices utilize an innovative new technology that eliminates this effect by controlling charge carrier accumulation at the body-diode region, eliminating this effect entirely. It has been tested against high temperatures, radiation exposure, and other harsh industrial environments with great success. With Wolfspeed’s comprehensive set of reference designs, modular evaluation kit, and design simulator tools at their disposal, designers can quickly select an appropriate device for their system while taking advantage of cost savings with physical size/layout optimization while exploring various topologies/design optimizations/optimisations/topologies/optimisations while exploring various topologies/optimisations/experimental topologies/design optimizations/experimental topologies/design optimizations/optimizations/optimizations/design optimizations/optimizations/design optimizations/experimental tools to experimentation/experimental platform/platform/kit/design simulator.
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