Silicon Carbide Vs Gallium Nitride

Silicon carbide and gallium nitride (GaN) represent the next wave of power semiconductors. These WBG materials are revolutionizing industry with increased efficiency, smaller size and lower costs associated with high performance power electronics.

Politicians should instead place greater focus on strengthening global gallium supply chains to ensure the United States remains competitive on an international market. This will allow companies from different nations to come together and keep costs competitive for future GaN epitaxy production here at home.

Wider Bandgap

Band gaps in semiconductor materials measure the energy required for electrons and holes to switch from their valence band to conduction band, or vice versa. Silicon has an energy requirement of 1.12 electron volts; gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC), however, have significantly larger energy gaps (3.4 and 3.0 respectively), leading to significantly higher electric breakdown fields as well as enhanced thermal conductivity.

GaN and SiC are ideal choices for high-voltage applications such as power conversion. Both materials operate at higher temperatures than silicon while having significantly reduced switching losses, offering increased energy efficiency with smaller packages and reduced overall system costs.

These advantages will revolutionize how we power things. They’ll allow EVs that provide similar range and driving ability as traditional cars with much smaller batteries; datacenters will also benefit by being able to double or even triple their power density while maintaining cooling costs and improving uptime.

But while gallium nitride and silicon carbide offer significant advantages over silicon, they will not replace it as the foundation for all transistors or ultra large scale integrations anytime soon. Instead, these materials will mostly be utilized in advanced applications requiring high performance with reduced energy usage; plus they could help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming.

Higher Breakdown Voltage

Gallium nitride stands out over silicon with its much higher critical breakdown electric field. When biased in an off state, electric field lines in a p-GaN-on-SiC HEMT device mainly perpendicularly connect the depletion region underneath its gate electrode; however, when exposed to high voltage exposure this changes and starts concentrating the electric field more towards drain edges – known as vertical breakdown.

GaN FETs boasting higher breakdown allow them to compete with IGBT transistors in power applications up to 650 V. Additionally, these GaN FETs boast significantly reduced switching losses when compared with silicon-based power MOSFETs at these voltage levels.

Silicon carbide and gallium nitride semiconductors feature much higher breakdown fields than their silicon counterparts, enabling them to operate at elevated temperature ranges without risk of device failure or decreased lifetimes. When applied in power electronics applications that demand high temperatures operation, this means reduced risks and extended longevity for devices that rely on them.

Gallium nitride semiconductors’ higher switching frequencies and breakdown voltages make them suitable for use in smaller, more energy efficient power supplies. Their lower component sizes enable more compact designs that are both energy efficient and cost-cutting; eliminating power factor correction (PFC) components, output capacitors and bulk capacitors which often account for up to half of total volume reduction can save space while making designs more energy efficient and cost effective.

Higher Efficiency

Silicon Carbide (SiC) chips feature wide bandgaps which allow them to absorb more energy and conduct electrons than silicon (Si) chips, leading to improved energy conversion efficiency, making SiC devices suitable for working at higher temperatures, switching frequencies, and provide reliable performance even under harsh environments.

SiC is an extremely hard, chemical compound made of silicon and carbon that occurs naturally as the gemstone moissanite; however, for over 100 years its production has been mass-produced as a synthetic material for use as grinding wheel abrasives, in refractory linings for industrial furnaces and pumps, as cutting tools, as cutting tool substrates for LED lights or as semiconductor substrates for light emitting diodes (LED).

SiC stands out among other materials with its extreme hardness, rigidity and thermal stability – qualities which make it the go-to material for high-performance components that need to operate in harsh conditions. Astronomical telescope optics often incorporate SiC as it has lower thermal expansion coefficient than glass while withstanding temperatures four times hotter than the Sun.

SiC’s insulating properties enable it to accommodate higher power densities and switching frequencies, with components like EMI filters and output capacitors becoming smaller due to this material’s properties. Designers can take advantage of this to build systems with higher power density – creating what is known as the Manhattan Skyline by soldering multiple short components together to form one larger printed circuit board and increasing overall system power density by doing this.

Higher Power Density

Gallium nitride’s power density is one of the reasons it has rapidly replaced silicon in some applications. As an ideal material for high-efficiency voltage converters and Schottky diodes, as well as power MOSFETs. Gallium nitride can also be found used for fast charger electronics and inverters for hybrid or electric vehicle hybridization systems.

GaN boasts a much wider breakdown field than silicon, enabling it to withstand higher voltages without melting or degrading. This allows manufacturers to design more compact devices; power transformers, EMI filters and output capacitors can all be reduced in size for reduced footprint and weight in overall power supplies.

Gallium nitride offers more than an increased breakdown field; it also boasts superior electron mobility than silicon, with electrons moving more than 30% faster for any given electric field. This results in reduced switching losses that in turn boost efficiency and decrease power losses of devices.

GaN’s wide bandgap makes it the ideal material for power applications, including those involving boosting applications. Its efficiency and switching speed allow designers to use smaller power transistors with reduced system losses, costs and carbon emissions. Furthermore, its lateral structure enables monolithic (‘same chip’) integration that can serve multiple components such as FETs, drive logics, protection matrices or sensors in one device – further decreasing system losses, costs and emissions.

Better Thermal Stability

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an extremely hard chemical compound of silicon and carbon. Although SiC can be found naturally as moissanite, a rare mineral, it has been produced synthetically since 1891 by American inventor Edward G. Acheson. To produce SiC in this fashion, a mixture of pure silica sand, ground coke and carbon electrode is placed into an electric furnace with carbon conductor electrode, then electric current applied through this electrode which reduces the mixture at high temperatures into SiC as carbon monoxide gas production resulting in carbon monoxide gas production as well as carbon monoxide gas production; currently, SiC production focuses on creating grinding wheels as well structural ceramics for automotive and industrial uses such as bulletproof vests.

GaN is an extremely durable semiconductor material used to produce LEDs with higher efficiency and brightness than those made from silicon devices. Due to this material’s superior performance, it makes an excellent choice for power electronics as well as radio frequency (RF) components.

Gallium nitride differs from silicon in its high electron mobility; electrons in it can move more than 30% faster. This allows RF components to operate at higher switching frequencies while simultaneously decreasing heating caused by excessive on-state resistance or switching losses.

Gallium nitride’s superior thermal stability and low on-resistance contribute to its improved power density, which allows manufacturers to make devices with greater efficiency, reliability and lower costs than their alternatives.

Higher Reliability

Silicon carbide, more commonly referred to as sapphire, is a non-toxic and extremely hard material. Cut into thin sheets, it can be used in windows, lenses and mirrors used in high performance optical devices as windows, lenses or mirrors for optical devices that feature higher precision optics. Silicon carbide also makes an excellent thermal management material with its low temperature coefficient of expansion capable of handling temperatures up to 1800degC – perfect for thermally demanding applications!

Thermal conductivity — nearly four times higher than glass or copper — makes aluminum an attractive material for power electronics applications. It efficiently transports heat away from hot spots in a circuit, while its very low co-efficient of expansion helps decrease temperature fluctuations.

Gallium nitride is more robust than silicon in harsh environments. It can maintain higher breakdown voltage and faster switching speeds, making it a good option for applications where space is at a premium, such as motor drives, LED lighting or battery-powered vehicles, where efficiency gains can result in extended range with reduced charging cycles.

GaN’s wide bandgap enables it to deliver power levels with smaller packages, thereby lowering overall system costs, energy usage and emissions while simultaneously decreasing carbon emissions. Furthermore, fabrication using just one chip eliminates external components for faster switching times with higher reliability – Navitas’ GaN portfolio, including Schottky diode discretes and MOSFETs features lateral structures which enable monolithic integration with drive, logic protection sensing capabilities of high performance power ICs.