Technology plays an integral part of modern life, enabling us to move faster than ever before.Silicon carbide semiconductors feature lower ON resistance and larger band gaps than their silicon counterparts, enabling higher voltages and quicker operations at reduced energy usage. Furthermore, switching losses are much lower making these devices ideal energy saving devices.These benefits have led to an explosion of interest for silicon carbide as a power semiconductor material, as well as an increase in popularity. This article will explain why, along with highlighting some specific applications.
Power Electronics
silicon carbide semiconductor play an essential role in power electronics. These electronic devices process electrical energy to regulate and convert it for various uses – including controlling electric car batteries with fast charging capabilities. Power semiconductors can also be found in electric grids, aerospace engines and generators, consumer electronics devices and electric vehicle batteries. SiC is better suited than silicon for high-voltage applications that demand faster switching speeds with lower losses, due to its higher breakdown electric field strength and wider band gap. Traditional silicon transistors like IGBTs and bipolar transistors have long been employed in power electronics due to their lower turn-on resistance, yet these devices generate significant heat during high frequency operations that impede their usage. SiC on the other hand has a much wider band gap and more thermally stable properties, allowing it to operate at temperatures that surpass that of silicon chips without losing performance.
Electric vehicles have been one of the key drivers for expansion in this field, requiring efficient power management to extend battery range and allow faster recharging. Current electric car designs use conventional power transistors which waste significant amounts of energy when switching between high and low voltages; silicon carbide devices will help EVs travel further while using less energy than traditional vehicles.
As more people embrace electric transportation and global awareness of climate change increases, demand for these devices should increase accordingly. Unfortunately, manufacturing silicon carbide presents manufacturers with unique challenges when trying to meet rising demand; one such challenge being its abrasive nature which damages tools while leading to defects in components. MTI Instruments’ Proforma 300iSA system was designed specifically to inspect wafer surfaces of silicon carbide wafers to eliminate defects while simultaneously decreasing production costs.
Growing sufficient high-purity silicon carbide (SiC) substrates for mass production has long been an issue, as its crystal growth process is up to 200 times slower than silicon. To take full advantage of SiC power electronics applications, manufacturers must be able to scale production quickly while still guaranteeing consistent quality – MTI Instruments’ capacitance-based inspection technology can speed this up five times more quickly compared with traditional wafer inspection methods.
Power Distribution & Utility Systems
silicon carbide semiconductor power our world. Operating at higher voltages, temperatures, and frequencies than their silicon-based counterparts enables more efficient devices with higher power densities, lower costs, faster switching times and reduced cooling needs.
Semiconductors are used in an array of electronic devices and power electronics applications, from industrial motors and industrial robots to electric vehicles, consumer electronics, aerospace applications, 5G wireless communications networks and solar energy conversion. One application with particular growth is the electric mobility market for electric vehicles – driven by both their environmental benefits as well as better charging times and driving range capabilities.
Silicon carbide’s unique physical properties make it the ideal material for high-power semiconductor applications, including those operating at higher speeds and with higher electric fields. Furthermore, its superior thermal conductivity helps minimize power losses for improved system efficiency as well as smaller form factors for high-power applications.
Traditional IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) and MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors) have long been utilized to achieve higher withstand voltage in power devices; however, their limited performance due to higher ON resistance limits their use. By comparison, silicon carbide can be made into majority carrier devices that feature both high withstand voltage as well as low ON resistance per area.
As demand for power semiconductors increases, companies like On Semiconductors are well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity. Their standard and custom devices help engineers realize their creative ideas more quickly. Their innovations aim to drive energy-efficient advances to lower customers’ power usage while its items also help engineers unravel complex plans to bring ideas to fruition. Among many of their offerings is MOSFETs, IGBTs and diodes which they manufacture worldwide – giving customers greater power management solutions overall.
Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles (EVs) rely on multiple power systems to power their many operations – propulsion, HVAC, window lifts, interior lighting, infotainment and seat belt sensors among others. Each of these functions require different voltages; therefore the onboard DC/DC unit must convert and distribute this voltage quickly in real time, enabling all the systems to function as intended. Silicon carbide semiconductor devices offer faster switching speeds and reduced ON resistance than their silicon counterparts enabling them to efficiently fulfill this important task much more rapidly and quickly than their silicon counterparts counterparts allowing all these tasks more quickly and efficiently than ever before.
SiC’s wider bandgap allows its transistors to operate with higher breakdown voltages in smaller packages, thus reducing manufacturing costs and waste heat generation while at the same time improving switching performance and current handling capability. Furthermore, SiC’s superior thermal conductivity enables it to dissipate heat more effectively away from chips thus further decreasing energy loss.
Silicon carbide devices can withstand higher temperatures than their silicon counterparts, making them suitable for high-power applications such as electric vehicle inverters and motor drives. Furthermore, using silicon carbide power devices may enable automakers to decrease inverter size thus decreasing vehicle weight and cost.
Pressure from governments worldwide to reduce emissions has contributed to an explosion in demand for wide bandgap semiconductors such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride (GaN), both of which are fast replacing traditional silicon in power electronics applications.
Silicon carbide is being utilized by electric vehicle makers to increase the efficiency of their power converters, which convert power from batteries to motors and improve driving range. This will enable carmakers to maximize space utilization on given land areas, increasing appeal among consumers.
Silicon carbide will require more precise power measurement, thus necessitating more advanced test and inspection equipment to verify its quality. MTI Instruments has developed its range of electrical test and inspection solutions specifically to meet these demands in power applications that use silicon carbide.
Industrial Applications
Silicon carbide semiconductors have many industrial uses due to their ability to withstand high temperatures and voltages, making them perfect for electric vehicles, power conversion, 5G wireless technology, aerospace applications and aerospace uses. Their rising demand has resulted in investment into their production; one such use case for these semiconductors being electric vehicles where silicon carbide chips offer faster charging and longer driving ranges.
Silicon carbide semiconductors boast the added advantage of being smaller than traditional silicon-based electronics components, leading to improved energy efficiency and reduced overall system costs. Plus, silicon carbide offers higher power density which makes it suitable for many applications.
Edward Acheson first created silicon carbide in 1893; it is a hard and brittle compound of carbon and silicon formed at high temperatures by melting quartz sand, petroleum coke, sawdust and other raw materials into a resistance furnace. From there it can be further processed to form various polytypes of SiC powder with various physical properties; most commercial uses occur for alpha silicon carbide variants with Wurtzite crystal structure while beta modification using zinc blende crystal structure are less popular.
silicon carbide semiconductor may become an excellent replacement for silicon-based devices in numerous applications. Their characteristics make them suitable for operating at higher temperatures, voltages, frequencies and can even be made smaller and lighter compared to their silicon counterparts, making them suitable for use in high temperature power electronics such as converters, chargers and inverters while their reduced cooling requirements improve energy efficiency and save costs.
The 10 inches and above segment is projected to experience the fastest growth during the forecast period, due to increasing adoption of silicon carbide semiconductors for use in various power electronics applications such as insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and thyristors, used extensively across industrial sectors for applications including AC-DC converters, traction motors, DC-DC converters hybrid electric vehicle powertrains battery chargers photovoltaic inverters.