Silicon Carbide Chips

Silicon carbide chips, also known as carborundum (or simply SiC), have undergone an incredible transformation within the power electronics industry. Like dam walls that open and close when necessary, silicon carbide chips deliver current like an uninterrupted source of power to power electronics applications.

Electric vehicle battery technologies should increase driving range per charge, reduce charging times and improve overall efficiency.

1. High breakdown voltage

SiC chips feature dielectric breakdown electric field strengths roughly 10 times greater than silicon, giving them very high breakdown voltages of 600 V or even thousands of volts and thus decreasing resistance components in power devices.

Wide bandgap materials like silicon carbide have proven themselves invaluable when used in power electronics applications such as terrestrial electric vehicles and space exploration probes and instruments, where silicon semiconductors must withstand harsh environments with extremely high voltages. This advantage has become even more critical since wide-bandgap materials such as silicon carbide have increasingly been adopted to replace silicon semiconductors.

Silicon carbide’s high breakage voltage enables smaller devices to be designed without fear of catastrophic failure resulting from reverse biasing an incompatible silicon semiconductor device too much, leading to smaller power losses in circuits and smaller component dimensions.

Silicon carbide’s breakdown voltage depends on its concentration of carbon vacancies, which can be controlled via carbon ion implantation followed by thermal oxidation at 1500-1700degC or Ar annealing and thermal oxidation at 1500-1770degC. This process ensures that carbon vacancy density in devices remains low enough to ensure long carrier lifetime and high breakdown voltages.

2. High thermal conductivity

Silicon carbide is one of the hardest materials known, with outstanding corrosion resistance that allows it to withstand temperatures of up to 1400degC. Thanks to its strength, silicon carbide finds use in automotive brakes and clutches as well as bulletproof vests; in addition, abrasives and semiconductors are produced using this material.

Silicon carbide semiconductors process electricity more efficiently than their traditional counterparts in some key applications, including Schottky diodes (rectifiers in power supplies) and FETs/MOSFETs (transistors).

Silicon carbide chips have the capacity to withstand higher operating temperatures, making them particularly suitable for electric vehicle manufacturers. Their temperature-controlling abilities reduce dependence on active cooling systems which add extra weight and cost, increasing driving range as well as charging times.

3. High power density

Silicon carbide is an intriguing combination of physical and electronic properties. In its pure state, silicon carbide behaves as an electrical insulator; however, through controlled addition of impurities it can become either P-type or N-type semiconductor material. P-type devices can be created by doping with aluminum, boron, gallium or nitrogen impurities; for an N-type device nitrogen and phosphorus impurities yield N-type devices – or it can even be doped to achieve superconductivity!

Pressure from governments for reduced emissions and the increasing popularity of electric vehicles has created a surge in demand for power components that can operate at high voltages, which has contributed to an upsurge in silicon carbide and wide bandgap materials such as gallium nitride usage.

Silicon carbide chips offer lower voltage resistance than their silicon counterparts, enabling smaller devices with reduced equipment weight and energy losses to be created. When applied to rail transit applications, using more efficient devices with smaller footprints can help increase power density while increasing carrying capacity while simultaneously decreasing operational costs. Mitsubishi Electric recently developed a 6.5kV full-SiC power semiconductor module with what they claim is the world’s highest power density at both voltage and current rating levels.

4. High temperature stability

Silicon carbide semiconductors have an extended lifetime at 500C temperatures, making them suitable for solar applications as well as power devices that must withstand higher temperatures than silicon. Silicon carbide also stands up better against higher temperatures compared to silicon.

Doping silicon carbide with aluminum and boron creates P-type semiconductors while nitrogen and phosphorus give rise to N-type silicon carbides.

Silicon Carbide transistors and FETs benefit from a wide forbidden band and high critical breakdown electric field, making them well suited to handling high voltages with reduced on-state resistance and switching losses. Furthermore, their small size compared to IGBTs or bipolar transistors offers much better temperature tolerance capabilities as well as greater reliability across a wider temperature range.

Investors have taken notice of the growth potential offered by makers of silicon carbide chips such as Infineon, ON Semiconductor and Wolfspeed. Their power semiconductors can be found in electric vehicles, solar energy conversion and 5G wireless technology among other applications.

5. High energy efficiency

Silicon carbide chips offer superior performance over traditional silicon devices like IGBTs and bipolar transistors, such as IGBTs. They operate more reliably at higher breakdown voltages while having reduced turn-on resistance and switching losses.

These advantages help SiC-based designs reduce total system cost, which is essential to widespread adoption of energy efficient technologies. SiC designs can achieve this savings through smaller system size and lower cooling, passive component and wiring expenses.

Silicon carbide’s unique properties are helping create game-changing technologies for our future, particularly as we move toward a net-zero emissions economy. Wolfspeed power semiconductors, for instance, can increase efficiency for electric vehicles by 10% while helping batteries charge 30% faster.

Silicon Carbide power chips are helping the world do more with less energy, enabling us to continue living our lives as we know them. That is what makes this technology so exciting – its undeniable advantages are quickly pushing it into widespread adoption – an exciting time to be an early pioneer of a power semiconductor pioneer technology!