Cree’s years of success as an LED-lighting company provided it with invaluable experience working with silicon carbide – a material which improves energy efficiency of power semiconductors – an experience which proved essential when developing its electric vehicles and charging infrastructures.
The 1200V 4H-SiC power MOSFET allows power electronic designers to achieve levels of system efficiency, size reduction and weight savings that would not otherwise be achievable with commercially available silicon devices due to low switching losses of these SiC devices.
Power transistors
A power transistor is a device designed with semiconductor material to manage high voltage and current levels. It features three terminals – base, emitter and collector. Used primarily in audio and switching circuits, its working principle involves controlling current flow in opposite directions when voltage is applied at any of its terminals.
Silicon is the go-to material for transistors, but scientists are exploring alternative materials to enhance performance and efficiency. One promising candidate is silicon carbide, which has superior semiconductor qualities compared to traditional silicon and has lower switching losses – making it perfect for power electronic devices like solar inverters.
Cree is creating SiC power transistors which are 50% more energy-efficient than their conventional counterparts. They will enable electrical circuits to accommodate more voltage and current without increasing electricity usage or pollution levels while decreasing electricity prices, according to Cree. This development could drastically cut back electricity consumption as well as pollution while simultaneously decreasing prices for electricity services.
Cree has designed its inaugural 900V MOSFET platform specifically to address high-frequency power electronics applications such as renewable energy inverters and industrial power supplies. Traditional silicon MOSFETs suffer from excessive internal body diode dissipation, high switching loss and large Rds(on), yet this new Cree MOSFET significantly mitigates these problems, leading to a 3X reduction in both system size and cost.
Power MOSFETs
Power MOSFETs are semiconductor devices used as switches to regulate the flow of electrical energy in an electric circuit. Used for applications that involve high voltage and power levels, MOSFETs have proven up to 50% more energy-efficient than traditional silicon transistors while being smaller and requiring less cooling than their silicon counterparts.
Infineon provides an impressive portfolio of state-of-the-art power MOSFETs designed to increase efficiency while improving thermal performance and EMI behavior. Their OptiMOS N-channel power MOSFETs are an especially good choice for high-speed switching applications; their reduced component count helps increase power density. Plus, with multiple packages to meet design constraints easily.
A power MOSFET contains three parts: source, drain and gate. The source and drain regions are doped with impurities to form either an electron concentration (n-type) or hole concentration (p-type), respectively. An insulating oxide layer is then deposited over the substrate to cover all but its gate region, leaving only its gate exposed when voltage is applied at its gate region; when that voltage is applied an inversion layer forms between source and drain regions allowing current to pass through it.
Cree’s Wolfspeed 900V SiC power MOSFETs feature blocking voltages up to 1200 V and on-state resistances of only 80mO – significantly lower than RDS(on) of comparable silicon devices, making them suitable for high speed switching applications, including motor controls.
Power diodes
Power diodes are integral parts of electronic circuits, performing an essential function: they convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). They’re essential in power supplies and rectifification circuits to convert AC into DC while protecting from current leakage leakage leakages and thermal shocks. Their high frequency operation and low losses ensure reliable protection from current or voltage spikes – perfect for high voltage environments like power supplies.
PIN diodes are similar to signal diodes but differ in terms of construction. Their junction consists of a heavily doped P-layer and lightly doped N-layer, creating what’s known as a PIN junction; due to this device having almost an intrinsic N layer increasing ohmic resistance and making electron passage harder; as a result forward current increases linearly while less flows in reverse.
Reverse Recovery Time of Power Diodes measures its characteristics by the interval from when forward current reaches zero and decays to 25% of reverse recovery current. This parameter is essential for high-speed operation; in addition, its snubber circuit serves to protect it against spikes of overvoltage during reverse recovery.
Cree/Wolfspeed has rapidly established itself as a pioneer of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) wide bandgap semiconductor technologies for various applications, particularly power semiconductors capable of operating at higher voltage and lower temperature – ideal for automotive, industrial and RF use cases.
Solar inverters
Sunlight hits solar cells on a panel and photons knock electrons loose from silicon wafers to form an electric current – however DC electricity doesn’t suit home and business appliances as effectively; to convert this energy to AC electricity a solar inverter must also provide safety monitoring features to make sure everything runs correctly.
There are various types of solar inverters available, each offering unique advantages and drawbacks. Finding the appropriate one for your home depends on how your system connects with the grid; grid-tied systems should use micro-inverters, power optimizer string inverters or standard string inverters (provided they do not include battery backup).
Grid-tied inverters feature built-in circuitry to match the voltage, phase and frequency of utility grids. Furthermore, these inverters provide anti-islanding protection that stops their inverter from producing power when the grid goes down, thus protecting utilities workers while they restore it and preventing power outages.
Central inverters are ideal for larger systems requiring hundreds of kilowatts or more of power, typically taking the form of large metal cabinets mounted at ground level for easier accessibility by operations and maintenance teams. Furthermore, central inverters tend to be more affordable than micro-inverters and can be installed in various configurations.
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