Page 52 - NEW Armstrong Book - 2

FIGURE 8: DC/DC CONVERTER DESIGN FOR TRANSISTOR COMPARISON EXAMPLE
TABLE 2: COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT BRIDGE TRANSISTORS
traditional silicon competitors. As demand increases and the technol- ogy continues to mature, SiC devices are positioned to lead the way in power electronics at competitive price points.
SiC challenges and the
road ahead
Even though the early use of SiC in elec- tronics can be traced back to more than a century ago, it has defined its coming of age in the past 20 years. Figure 10 shows SiC’s major milestones, begin- ning with the 2-inch SiC wafers used for research purposes.
With the recent release of Rohm’s fourth-generation SiC MOSFETs and a burgeoning automotive EV indus- try demanding higher volumes and improved performance, the future of SiC is indeed bright. The development
of the fifth-generation SiC MOSFET is already under way and shows that there is still room for improvement in SiC performance, which is not yet close to the theoretical limit. The next- generation SiC MOSFET should achieve
further on-resistance reduction com- pared with the technology today. These devices must also continue to meet or exceed automotive qualifications, including harsh environmental reli- ability. As market demand increases
38
ASPENCORE GUIDE TO SILICON CARBIDE
FIGURE 9: SPIDER CHART COMPARING GaN, SiC, AND Si PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS