What are the roles of SIC power devices in the new energy field?

China's silicon carbide industry is an industry with great potential. It involves diversified products, has a deep industrial chain, and has a wide range of applications. It has good market development prospects.

As we all know, silicon carbide has excellent electrical properties such as high voltage resistance, high temperature resistance, high frequency, and radiation resistance. It breaks through the physical limitations of silicon-based semiconductor materials and becomes the core material of the third-generation semiconductor. The performance advantages of silicon carbide materials lead to new changes in power devices.

The function of power devices is to process, convert and control electric energy. Compared with silicon-based power devices, power devices made of silicon carbide substrate have the advantages of high voltage resistance, high temperature resistance, low energy loss and high power density, which can realize the miniaturization and lightweight of power modules. Compared with silicon-based MOSFET, the size of silicon carbide-based MOSFET of the same specification can be greatly reduced to 1/10 of the original, and the on-resistance can be reduced to at least 1/100 of the original. The total energy loss of silicon carbide-based MOSFET of the same specification can be greatly reduced by 70% compared with silicon-based IGBT.

Application (new energy)

New Energy Vehicles

Silicon carbide power devices are mainly used in the electric drive and electronic control systems of new energy vehicles. Compared with traditional silicon-based power semiconductor devices, silicon carbide power devices have many obvious advantages in voltage resistance, switching loss and high temperature resistance, which helps to achieve lightweight and efficient power electronic drive systems of new energy vehicles. It is widely used in key electric drive and electronic control components such as the main drive inverter, OBC, DC/DC converter and non-onboard charging piles of new energy vehicles.

Major mainstream new energy vehicle manufacturers are actively deploying silicon carbide models.

Silicon carbide devices are used in vehicle charging systems and power conversion systems, which can effectively reduce switching losses, increase the maximum operating temperature, and improve system efficiency. Currently, more than 20 automobile manufacturers around the world use silicon carbide power devices in vehicle charging systems; silicon carbide devices are used in new energy vehicle charging piles, which can reduce the size of charging piles and increase charging speed. The application of SiC in new energy vehicles will greatly reduce the weight of the vehicle while ensuring the strength and safety performance of the vehicle, effectively increase the cruising range of electric vehicles by more than 10%, and reduce the size of the electronic control system by 80%.

The market space for silicon carbide used in DC fast charging piles is expected to increase significantly in the future. Due to cost reasons, the current use ratio of silicon carbide devices in DC charging piles is still relatively low. However, by configuring silicon carbide power devices, DC fast charging piles can greatly simplify the internal circuit, improve charging efficiency, reduce the size and cost of the radiator, and reduce the overall size and weight of the system. With the application of 800V fast charging technology, the silicon carbide market for DC charging piles is expected to grow rapidly.

Photovoltaic power generation

In photovoltaic power generation applications, the cost of traditional inverters based on silicon-based devices accounts for about 10% of the system, but it is one of the main sources of energy loss in the system. Photovoltaic inverters using power modules that use silicon carbide MOSFETs or silicon carbide MOSFETs combined with silicon carbide SBDs can increase conversion efficiency from 96% to more than 99%, reduce energy loss by more than 50%, and increase equipment cycle life by 50 times, thereby reducing system size, increasing power density, extending device life, and reducing production costs. High efficiency, high power density, high reliability, and low cost are the future development trends of photovoltaic inverters. In string and centralized photovoltaic inverters, silicon carbide products are expected to gradually replace silicon-based devices.

Benefiting from China's world-leading position in the technological level and industrialization scale of emerging industries such as 5G communications and new energy, the huge application market space of domestic silicon carbide devices has driven the rapid development of the upstream semiconductor industry, and domestic silicon carbide manufacturers have their own advantages. Against the background of insufficient global semiconductor material supply, international leading companies have proposed plans to expand silicon carbide production capacity and maintain high R&D investment. At the same time, domestic local SiC manufacturers are accelerating their layout in the silicon carbide field, seizing development opportunities, and catching up with international leading companies.

The products are widely used in the automotive field: electronic control, battery management, vehicle inverter, vehicle electronic products, charging piles, etc.; communications field: various power supplies, switches, etc.; industrial field: inverters, frequency converters, power tools, etc.; home appliances field: fans, washing machines, sweepers, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.; consumer electronics field: lighting, medical equipment, wireless charging, mobile power supplies, etc., and the product quality always remains at the top level in the industry.