Integrating SiC power devices into electric vehicles (EVs) increases their efficiency and performance while decreasing costs, leading to extended driving range, alleviated range anxiety concerns and an acceleration in transition towards electric mobility.
SiC power semiconductors also offer higher switching frequencies that enable smaller magnets and thermal management devices to reduce BOM costs and overall system costs.
Faster switching speeds
Wide bandgap semiconductor technologies like SiC (silicon carbide) offer greater breakdown electric field strength than silicon for power devices of the next-generation, providing smaller size, lighter weight and reduced costs – providing “greener” solutions than ever before.
Silicon carbide’s hexagonal crystal morphology lends it an exceptional thermal stability, making it an ideal semiconductor material for harsh environment power electronics applications such as solar inverters, wind turbine converters and grid-tied energy storage applications. Due to this long lifespan and durability of silicon carbide it also drives adoption of renewable energy through solar inverters, wind turbine converters and grid-tied energy storage applications.
SiC MOSFETs may present challenges due to their faster switching speed. Depending on the design of a circuit, fast switching can create VDS spikes and long ringing durations which decrease device margin for handling voltage distress from lightning strikes, sudden load changes or parasitic circuit inductances – leading to noncompliance with EMI requirements and increasing power losses that limit device performance limiting performance of device and can even void warranty coverage. To address these effects successfully a best practices approach must be applied.
Lower ON-resistance per unit area
Manufacturers have made great strides toward optimizing RDS(ON) of Si power semiconductors over the years, but progress has been incremental. SiC devices offer significantly lower ON resistance per area for smaller passive components and thus may offer significant advantages in terms of optimization.
Dielectric breakdown electric field strength and band gap width is significantly greater in silicon than germanium, providing for a thinner drift layer and lower ON-resistance per device area at equivalent voltage.
As IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) use minority carrier devices to achieve high withstand voltages, they must generate a tail current when turning off to prevent the accumulation of minority carriers in their drift layer and limit high frequency operation. This increases switching losses while restricting high frequency operations.
SiC MOSFETs can achieve much higher withstand voltage with significantly reduced ON resistance due to their faster switching speeds, making passive components such as inductors and transformers smaller, further lowering system cost. Manufacturers have taken notice of these benefits and increasingly adopt SiC devices into new-generation power electronic designs; industry estimates project that by 2027 total market size for SiC devices will hit $6.3B led by Wolfspeed, STMicroelectronics, onsemi and Rohm.
High efficiency
High efficiency power supplies are integral in industrial applications and data centers to reduce heat generation while simultaneously supporting motor drives, EV charging stations and extended driving range. Furthermore, higher voltages enable more effective operation within motor drives for efficient operation as well as supporting faster battery charges for extended battery ranges and faster charging processes.
SiC MOSFETs stand out as an attractive solution due to their lower on-resistance (compared to conventional silicon power transistors of comparable size) and superior energy conductivity, enabling higher switching frequencies without loss in performance or power losses resulting from their use, translating to lower overall system power losses as well as smaller magnetics devices for more compact designs.
SiC’s increased density also contributes to reduced heat and enhanced device reliability for longer device lifespan. Due to these features, SiC makes a perfect material choice for demanding mission-critical applications such as ruggedized power supplies or military devices.
Lower power losses
Power semiconductors require materials with sufficient current handling capability in their off-state while maintaining high voltage, so devices don’t break down or generate excess heat. Silicon carbide is ideal for this application due to its unique atomic structure that enables it to withstand higher voltages ten times greater than what silicon can sustain while its thermal conductivity doubles that of its silicon counterpart, helping your device disperse heat more effectively.
Power electronics technology benefits from low on-resistance transistors or diodes, as this translates to lower resistance levels for these components and greater energy savings and waste heat minimization, along with greater reliability for applications like electric vehicle charging stations.
SiC power semiconductors can help users meet their goal for a greener energy landscape with increased efficiency and reliability, whether that means increasing renewable energy production or revolutionizing medium-voltage power delivery – these powerful devices have the ability to make an impactful statement about power electronics technology.
Lower cost
Silicon (Si) has long dominated the power semiconductor industry, yet its limits are rapidly being reached in key areas like temperature, voltage and frequency requirements. Wide Bandgap materials like SiC and GaN offer more reliable alternatives.
SiC devices feature lower drain-to-source RDS(ON) ratios than comparable materials, enabling higher switching frequencies in electric vehicle inverter and motor control systems resulting in improved acceleration performance as well as faster charging of batteries – improving practicality and desirability as a transport option.
Wolfspeed, Infineon, STMicroelectronics GT Advanced Technologies (now part of onsemi) and Rohm are currently offering SiC MOSFETs, while kits from companies like Arrow Electronics enable system designers to evaluate this technology with gate drivers, current sensors and more plug-and-play. Engineered SiC substrates may eventually reach production maturity; however this may delay growth in EV markets until such investments can be made;
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