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SiC Power
Devices
By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio
Silicon carbide provides superior switching and improved thermal performance compared with similar silicon devices. Those improvements translate into improved efficiency, higher power density, and reduced system size and weight. SiC enables higher efficiency so that all of the powertrains in the industrial chain can be built in an effective way.
The “Technology Analysis” section of this book focuses on the innovations that silicon carbide enables as well as the innovations that are improving the tech- nology itself. We start with the chemical and physical basics of SiC, examining its electrical properties and the importance of packaging to performance. We also analyze the adoption of SiC-based power electronics for platforms such as electric vehicles, including Formula E race cars. SiC is essential to advancing the EV and energy infrastructure. Maximizing the potential of renewable energy with SiC would help to generate, store, distribute, and convert today’s green energy for a better tomorrow.
SiC technology forecasts must take several factors into account, such as SiC crystal growth and die cost, SiC device and wafer demand, SiC adoption in EV-related converters, and global EV sales. The biggest hurdle to getting more battery electric vehicles (BEVs) on the road is the battery cost, which is decreasing but proportionally still accounts for a huge percentage of the over- all BEV cost. Here again, OEMs are looking to SiC devices to reduce the cost of these batteries while increasing their performance.
To enable EVs to charge faster, automotive power electronics designers need SiC (and gallium nitride) devices and a new powertrain architecture that can meet EVs’ efficiency and power-density requirements. To obtain maximum driving range on a charge for the given battery capacity, the entire power- conversion chain must achieve the maximum efficiency possible. The driving range of an electric car directly reflects the efficiency of its powertrain system.
In recent years, SiC power solutions have been emerging on the market, as they are capable of overcoming the limits of silicon technology in terms of higher switching frequencies and lower power losses for motor control, aerospace, and defense applications. SiC devices tolerate much higher operating tempera- tures, in a smaller form factor, than silicon equivalents. The use of SiC devices in motor control and electrical power control applications in general is a real breakthrough, thanks to features such as energy savings, size reduction, inte- gration opportunities, and reliability.
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