Power Control Challenges in the Automotive Industry (Part I)

Electric and hybrid vehicles are gaining an increasing share of the automotive market, becoming a key area of ​​interest for electronic system suppliers. Technological advancements such as autonomous driving and electric vehicles are likely to increase the application areas of electronic components.

Transparency Market Research reports that the global automotive electronics market will grow at a CAGR of 19.0% from 2017 to 2025, reaching over $22.0 million by 2025.

Describe the latest updates for Littelfuse power semiconductors. What are the markets you are driving heavily?

In 2018, we acquired IXYS Corporation, a global pioneer in the power semiconductor and integrated circuit markets, the largest acquisition in our company's history. IXYS focuses on medium and high voltage power control semiconductors for the industrial, communications, consumer and medical markets. The acquisition brings us several valuable strategic advantages, including a broader technology platform and the ability to further expand into the industrial and electronics markets. It also supports the long-term penetration of our power control product portfolio into the automotive market and expands the percentage of power semiconductor content per vehicle that we can provide to our customers around the world.

Essentially, IXYS is the cornerstone of our power semiconductor business. It makes us one of the strongest players in the power semiconductor industry, able to leverage our collective resources and product portfolio to support our customers. Now that we have integrated IXYS into our operations, it expands our engineering expertise and intellectual property related to high voltage and semiconductor technologies and increases our overall presence in the semiconductor industry, adding to our scale and volume. It enables us to redraw the power semiconductor roadmap.

Some of our latest technology releases include the X-Series 850V - 1000V Superjunction Power MOSFETs and the X4-Series 100V - 150V N-Channel Superjunction Power MOSFETs, both with HiPerFET™ options. Our competitors cannot offer Superjunction MOSFETs with lower drain-source voltages (Figure 1).

Figure 1: X-Series 850V - 1000V Superjunction Power MOSFET

Last year, Monolith SiC Schottky diodes and MOSFETs have moved from prototype to production. Our expanded power semiconductor portfolio, like our true high power and high voltage products like IGBT components, opens up markets we can serve, such as rail transportation, power grid, infrastructure, DC motor drives, etc. On the other hand, our low voltage products in smaller packages enable us to serve different markets, such as solar energy, electric vehicle charging and industrial robots.

From all the discussion, electric vehicles can be considered as the new green technology. How much does Littelfuse's participation in this technology cost? How do you improve the technology, such as the efficiency of battery power management?

We are definitely involved in developing electric vehicle technology, not only from a power semiconductor perspective, but also from a circuit protection and sensing perspective. One of the best examples is the onboard charger, where we are working to be a one-stop shop for almost all the elements that a customer needs in their system. We have a large number of power semiconductor devices there, and there are other application examples in electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles, such as main switches or auxiliary systems. We are also working with electric vehicle manufacturers on high-voltage air conditioning components. As electric vehicles develop, more and more applications are moving from 12 volts to high-voltage grids. We are definitely involved in this new green technology and the measures we are taking to improve the efficiency of the entire electric drivetrain. For example, we are working to optimize available and mature silicon technologies, such as IGBTs, for specific applications to reduce power losses.

What our customers ask us to do is to fine-tune and optimize standard available technologies for specific hybrid and electric vehicle applications (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Electric vehicle charging solution