Silicon Carbide Technology

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an exceptionally hard synthetically produced compound of silicon and carbon that is used to produce sandpaper, grinding wheels and cutting tools, as well as linings for industrial furnaces, as refractory material or heating elements.

SiC can be transformed into a semiconductor by adding various impurities that allow electricity to pass through it, making it suitable for applications requiring both high temperature and power levels. This property makes SiC a promising material choice.

High-temperature

High-temperature silicon carbide (SiC) is an ideal material for creating flexible electronics designed to withstand harsh and toxic environments, thanks to its superior physical properties compared to rigid platforms, including stretchability and bend-ability. Furthermore, SiC offers excellent oxidation resistance as well as a high melting point making it suitable for compact high-temperature heat exchangers. In this dissertation we describe a method for fabricating SiC-based flexible sensors on polyimide substrates suitable for hostile environments.

SiC has shown great promise as a wide bandgap semiconductor, offering higher breakdown voltages than silicon counterparts while offering lower on resistance and operating temperatures. Its wide bandgap allows it to work at higher temperatures.

silicon carbide’s excellent thermal conductivity makes it an excellent choice for applications where devices must endure extreme temperatures and repeated heating, such as electric vehicles (EVs). This technology enables fast charging times while minimizing component count and overall system loss; additionally it speeds up battery charge times from zero capacity to full capacity which is vital to its adoption and implementation.

Recent advances in SiC-based ICs and power converters have allowed higher operating temperatures; however, several technical challenges still need to be overcome to reach further advances, including gate drive, current measurement, parameter matching between devices, packaging technology to adapt to high operating temperature conditions, packaging adapted for high temperatures etc. To address these obstacles, researchers are developing materials and technologies suitable for high temperatures environments including sintering, reaction bonding and crystal growth as well as CVD production of bulk form SiC for wafer-scale fabrication.

High-power

Silicon carbide power devices are revolutionizing how we think about electricity. Compared to their silicon (Si) predecessors, this new SiC technology offers higher operating temperatures, lower switching losses, greater current and voltage capacities as well as reduced component size/weight resulting in dramatically decreased system costs.

SiC stands out as an exceptional material with unique material properties that make it the ideal successor to silicon for high voltage and current applications. Composed of silicon (Si) and carbon (C), SiC boasts 10x more breakdown electric field strength and 3x larger band gap compared to conventional silicon, making it suitable for doping both p-type and n-type impurities, making possible a range of power device technologies such as Schottky diodes and MOSFETs in discrete or module packages.

At a cellular tower, SiC’s high breakdown voltage powers RF amplifiers used to transmit wireless signals between mobile base stations and base transceivers. Furthermore, this technology is being implemented into electric vehicle (EV) power systems where it has proven itself beneficial through longer driving distances as well as greater energy conservation through battery management systems and inverters with greater energy conservation features.

SiC-based IDMs and FETs boast lower turn-on resistance compared to silicon-based IGBTs while offering 300x the withstand voltage and faster operation, enabling higher switching frequencies with decreased cooling costs as well as smaller passive components and simpler magnetics. Furthermore, silicon carbide’s superior thermal conductivity enables more compact power converters that can be mounted onto smaller heat sinks to further decrease system size, weight and costs.

High-voltage

Silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors offer significant advantages over standard silicon technologies in power conversion applications, particularly with regard to electrical fields and temperatures. SiC can withstand greater electric fields while remaining at lower temperatures, meaning improved performance at lower costs in terms of physical space occupied or costs paid; this advantage makes these semiconductors particularly suitable for key infrastructure like charging infrastructure of electric vehicles.

SiC power devices have the capacity to withstand 10 times higher critical electric field than silicon ones, making them an excellent solution for high-voltage power applications. Furthermore, their conduction losses are much smaller, which enables faster switching frequencies and greater efficiency.

These features make these components perfect for applications in the energy sector, including power converters and motor controls. Their lightweight yet efficient construction allows designers to reduce weight and size components like magnets and inductors for reduced design cost while still meeting voltage level specifications.

SiC power devices boast an advantage in terms of their higher breakdown voltage, enabling them to withstand higher voltages than standard silicon devices and be suitable for battery-powered systems where large currents and temperatures must be handled effectively by power switches.

Conventional Si power devices exhibit extremely high n-layer resistance when the breakdown voltage exceeds 600-800 V, so to overcome this limit minority carrier injection from the p-region can help lower this resistance by creating abrupt pn junctions – this form of device is known as a bipolar transistor.

Mitsubishi Electric recently unveiled a series of high-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) IGBTs designed specifically for industrial applications. These new devices can replace standard silicon devices in power conversion systems to achieve significant energy savings while improving reliability in high-voltage DC transmission networks.

High-frequency

High-frequency silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors allow power converters to work faster, more efficiently, and reliably – key technology drivers in many transformative applications like electric vehicle charging stations, data center power, and server power supplies. Furthermore, its superior thermal properties make SiC an excellent choice for use in high temperature environments.

SiC is unique among semiconductors in that its energy gap is three times wider than that of silicon, making it capable of handling much higher temperatures, voltages and frequencies without degrading over time. This enables designers to reduce board sizes while eliminating expensive magnetic components altogether.

High-speed wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors present unique challenges when it comes to switching speeds; their fast switching can result in voltage spikes, noise and noncompliance with electromagnetic interference regulations (EMI). To minimize these problems, engineers must design and test their systems using precision measurement tools and methodologies and incorporate best practices that minimize risks of these issues surfacing during prototype development, product qualification or even worse in the field.

Recently, significant reductions in die area for SiC devices have allowed them to operate at higher frequencies than conventional silicon-based chips, leading them to perform well in key power applications such as TPPFC at 100kHz and soft-switching LLC at 200-300 kHz. Emerging technologies such as trench and cascoded MOSFETs will further increase performance in high frequency applications.

Navitas’ GeneSiC family of patent-protected SiC devices provides high-speed and efficient power conversion for applications ranging from 20 W up to 20 MW, from 20 W up to 6.5 kV device voltage ratings offering exceptional conductivity, switching, electric field strength and electric field resistance allowing designers to implement cutting edge medium voltage power conversion topologies such as two-level converters or solid state transformers with ease.

High-speed

Silicon carbide power devices are revolutionizing how electricity is transformed, controlled and distributed. Offering numerous advantages over their silicon counterparts, SiC power semiconductors make for smaller, lighter systems that are more efficient and reliable – perfect for use in electric vehicles (EVs) or battery chargers; industrial applications include robots or factory automation.

SiC is ideal for system designers seeking efficiency gains thanks to its higher breakdown voltage and switching speeds, making it perfect for high-speed applications like 5G mobile technology which requires hardware with data rates 20x faster than 4G LTE. In addition, SiC devices boast superior conductivity and reliability over traditional silicon-based power semiconductors.

Silicon carbide’s wide bandgap allows electronics to operate at much higher temperatures, voltages and frequencies – key features of high-speed operation – reducing overall power losses while simultaneously making devices smaller in size and cost while improving thermal management issues while enabling the use of lower cost passive components.

Minority carrier devices, like IGBTs, were once employed to manage higher breakdown voltages; however, they suffer from increased turn-on resistance and switching losses at high frequencies, restricting their application in many power electronic applications. By contrast, majority carrier devices like Schottky barrier diodes and MOSFET transistors fabricated using silicon carbide can handle higher withstand voltages with minimal ON resistance even at higher frequencies – an invaluable benefit when designing power electronics applications.

GeneSiC’s SiC MOSFETs and Schottky MPS diodes support high-speed and high-efficiency power conversion in diverse applications such as electric vehicle charging/energy storage, grid, solar/wind energy harvesting/generation, motor drives and industrial automation systems. Thanks to temperature robustness, radiation hardness and other features these components offer designers can create reliable yet cost-effective solutions in smaller form factors than those made of silicon equivalents.