Advantages of Silicon Carbide Wafers

Silicon from silica sand combined with carbon from coal yields an extraordinary material: silicon carbide (SiC). SiC substrates are driving technological advancement in EVs, 5G networks and more.

Manufacturing SiC wafers requires sophisticated technologies and in-depth expertise, and manufacturers have to strive for increased yields and reliability during production processes.

Dureza

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is an exceptionally hard, durable non-oxide ceramic material with several advantageous characteristics. These include resistance to corrosion, abrasion and wear; maintaining strength and toughness at high temperatures; good thermal conductivity and low coefficient of thermal expansion – qualities which make SiC an excellent substrate material for high performance power semiconductor devices.

SiC is an all-purpose semiconductor base material, capable of being doped with nitrogen and phosphorus to form an n-type semiconductor; or with beryllium, boron, aluminum and gallium to create a p-type semiconductor. Alpha silicon carbide (alpha SiC), with its hexagonal crystal structure similar to Wurtzite is often chosen in automotive inverters as it enables reduced temperature fabrication processes while still meeting performance and reliability needs for electric vehicle inverters.

SiC is an efficient alternative to silicon, featuring a larger bandgap and lower ON resistance that allow faster switching speeds and higher efficiency – both essential components in modern power electronics. Furthermore, SiC boasts excellent electrical properties and highly resistant against electromagnetic disturbances that could otherwise damage its surface.

Thermal Conductivity

Silicon carbide offers superior thermal conductivity, making it an excellent material choice for high-power/high-frequency devices. Furthermore, this property and the material’s high hardness and wide bandgap allow silicon carbide to withstand higher voltages and temperatures than traditional semiconductor materials.

SiC’s thermal properties are determined primarily by its atomic structure. It possesses a cubic unit cell arranged with layers of silicon and carbon layered alternately along its c-axis, producing isotropic electrical and thermal characteristics consistent across all directions. Furthermore, SiC can also be produced in various polytypes depending on an application’s particular needs; which polytype you opt for depends entirely upon what kind of polytypes are produced.

SiC stands out as an alternative material thanks to its wide bandgap, which allows for greater power density and faster switching speed as well as lower on-resistance and power efficiency – qualities which make it ideal for high voltage devices like power electronics.

Manufacturing high-quality silicon carbide wafers is often a daunting challenge due to its complex atomic structure, with defects often appearing during slicing and surface finishing processes – an issue that could impede device performance. Pureon’s extensive semiconductor history and experience in producing silicon carbide wafers has allowed us to come up with effective solutions that enable us to overcome such hurdles successfully.

High Voltage Resistance

Silicon carbide wafers can withstand more than double the breakdown voltage of traditional silicon semiconductors due to its wide bandgap, which allows electrons to more readily move between the valence band and conduction band. This feature makes silicon carbide wafers suitable for electronic and power applications by providing faster switching, smaller devices and reduced production costs.

Silicon (Si) has an energy gap between 1.12 eV and 3.26 eV; SiC has an even wider bandgap of around 3.26 eV, making SiC switch much faster and reducing device size by enabling more energy transfer at once.

As 5G progresses, silicon carbide enables new wireless chips with higher bandwidth and data transmission capacity than ever before. More powerful transistors must be utilized, and silicon carbide’s high-speed switching makes it ideal for this task.

Silicon carbide’s other qualities make it ideal for high-speed, high temperature and high voltage applications, including thermal shock resistance. Rapid temperature fluctuations cause different parts to expand and contract at different rates causing cracking or failure; but silicon carbide remains undamaged due to its low thermal expansion properties.

Resistência a altas temperaturas

Silicon carbide stands up well to high temperatures and voltage levels, making it an excellent material choice for power electronics applications. It can handle higher breakdown voltage than silicon and lower switching losses at high frequencies while its wide bandgap allows operation over a wider temperature range.

SiC-based devices have revolutionized power electronics, enabling smaller and more energy-efficient units. Their high ON resistance and ability to withstand high voltage levels make them an excellent fit for electric vehicles and renewable energy systems.

Silicon carbide’s strength and durability allow it to withstand extreme conditions such as high temperatures or corrosive environments, as well as molding heat-resistant components for electrical applications like light emitting diodes (LEDs) or detectors. Furthermore, its strength makes it suitable for kiln furniture such as hearth plates, recuperator tubes, pusher slabs, and skid rails.

SiC can be doped with various impurities to enhance its electrical properties, producing P-type semiconductors when doped with aluminum, boron or gallium; on the other hand doping with nitrogen and phosphorus results in N-type semiconductors allowing complex semiconductor devices such as Schottky barrier diodes or MOSFETs with reduced turn-on resistances to be created.