As global focus shifts towards electromobility, silicon carbide based power semiconductors have seen robust demand. Infineon provides efficient, robust and reliable CoolSiC MOSFET trench technology for use across a variety of EV applications.
CoolSiC XHP 2 modules enable servo drives to achieve up to 80% lower losses while offering 10x increased reliability against thermomechanical stress.
Improved Power Density
Silicon carbide boasts a wider bandgap than silicon, enabling designers to exploit its advantages for power semiconductors. The larger breakdown field enables thinner active layers – thus decreasing size and increasing power density of devices – as well as excellent thermal conductivity which contributes to lower switching losses and better heat dissipation.
High-voltage applications like solar, energy storage and electric vehicle charging stations can benefit greatly from smaller and lighter equipment that increases system efficiency while simultaneously decreasing capital, installation and maintenance costs. This is one major advantage offered by modern power electronics.
Infineon’s CoolSiC MOSFET family boasts maximum DC link voltages of 2000 V in a TO-247PLUS-4-HCC package and higher switching frequencies than silicon counterparts, enabling increased DC link voltages and faster switching frequencies than their silicon counterparts and significant reduction of switching losses and parasitic effects. Furthermore, designers can incorporate freewheeling diodes and avoid gate drive voltage spikes altogether.
Silicon carbide offers many environmental advantages, and production emits less carbon dioxide than traditional silicon wafers, and it can be manufactured using energy-saving processes at Infineon’s 200mm Kulim 3 fab in Malaysia powered by 100 percent green electricity – meaning its innovative technology can support customers who wish to pursue carbon neutrality.
Increased Efficiency
Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductors switch electricity even more efficiently than silicon devices and are increasingly used in high-voltage applications like electric vehicles with 800 V battery systems, fast charging stations and trains, renewable energy systems and AI data centers. Their smaller designs result in greater power density and lower system costs – key considerations when considering high power density applications like AI data centers and renewable energy solutions.
SiC is key to this improvement because of its much higher voltage withstand capabilities than silicon can, which typically stands up to 600V before breaking. Silicon carbide’s breakdown voltage can reach five- to ten-fold higher levels allowing manufacturers to use thinner control circuitry that weighs less and produces less heat.
Silicon carbide (SiC) is more resilient and long-lived than silicon, thus requiring less maintenance and repairs over time. Coupled with reduced operating temperatures and energy savings benefits, SiC is often chosen as an alternative for power electronics applications requiring 650 V or higher voltage outputs.
Infineon and SCHWEIZER have joined forces to increase the efficiency of SiC chips in power electronics. Their revolutionary p2Pack technology enables direct embedding of Infineon’s 1200 V CoolSiC chips onto PCBs directly, increasing performance by up to 35%.
Infineon has been manufacturing CoolSiC chips for over 20 years. Through an expansive global sourcing strategy, Infineon quickly adapts to market dynamics and customer demands, ensuring uninterrupted production while protecting itself against supply chain disruptions.
Lower Noise Levels
Silicon carbide’s low switching losses allow a smaller power semiconductor to be utilized, thus reducing noise levels in many applications, including railway technology where frequent acceleration and braking must take place at high speeds. Silicon carbide also makes sense in electric vehicles (EVs) where its higher efficiency and reduced power loss means extended driving ranges on a single charge.
Infineon has demonstrated the advantages of silicon carbide in these areas with their CoolSiC MOSFET G2 trench transistors and ICs, offering better performance in hard and resonant switching topologies, leading to significant energy efficiency increases across applications such as photovoltaic inverters, storage systems, DC EV charging stations, power supplies, motor drives and industrial machinery.
CoolSiC 650 V and 1200 V MOSFETs from Infineon use less energy while producing the same level of power, without compromising quality or reliability – helping achieve global climate targets while furthering decarbonization efforts. This lower system energy consumption plays a pivotal role in meeting these targets and furthering decarbonization initiatives.
CoolSiC MOSFET and IC products from Infineon have already found their way into electric vehicle (EV) power converters, such as Xiaomi’s HybridPACK Drive inverters for its SU7 electric vehicle. Siemens Mobility uses Infineon CoolSiC MOSFETs in Munich’s Avenio streetcar fleet as part of an intensive one-year testing phase to prove how effectively these innovative semiconductors improve efficiency while decreasing motor noise – ultimately leading to longer driving ranges and increased driving ranges!
Lower Weight
Silicon carbide, also referred to as corundum or carborundum, is a hard chemical compound composed of silicon and carbon atoms that forms naturally as the mineral moissanite in nature, but has been mass produced since 1893 as powder or crystal for use as an abrasive. Since 1893 it has also been cut into gems or sanded down into very hard ceramics used in bulletproof vests and car brakes – with power applications providing greater efficiency with less size, weight, and cost for use than conventional silicon would allow.
Energy efficiency can be advanced through the use of wide bandgap materials like silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), power semiconductors which overcome limitations presented by traditional silicon devices in terms of operating voltage, current, switching speed and heat dissipation.
As the first commercial SiC supplier, Infineon brings an unparalleled level of device experience and design flexibility to high-power designs. Their CoolSiC MOSFET trench and GaN power transistors can be combined with their high-voltage Schottky diodes to deliver an optimal balance between performance, reliability, size, and costs for optimal design results.
SiC devices have multiple uses in electric vehicle (EV) charging, solar inverters, servo drives and railway traction applications. One 3300 V CoolSiC XHP2 module family provides significantly superior power cycling performance and reliability compared to conventional silicon modules in its package, thus enabling longer range or reduced battery size for driving range equivalent EVs.
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