Prospects and challenges of SiC in the energy market
Article By : Saumitra Jagdale
High efficiency and chemically inert nature cemented value of Silicon Carbide in power electronics sphere, leading to boom in its utilization.
尽管硅一直是全球电力电转换器中使用的设备的首选半导体材料，但1891年的碳化硅发明带来了一种减轻对硅依赖性的替代方法。SIC是一个宽带半导体: The energy required to excite an electron into the conduction band is higher, and this wide bandgap has multiple advantages compared with standard silicon-based devices.
较高的带隙有助于确保较高的工作温度范围，而无需分解和效率降低，并且由于泄漏电流较低而在正常条件下具有更高的效率。这与其化学惰性的性质相结合，进一步巩固了SIC在功率电子球体中的价值，从而导致其利用中的繁荣。
Many companies are already at the forefront of this technology, such as Rohm, Infineon, Wolfspeed, and Qorvo. The presidents and managing directors of these companies sat down for a panel discussion on the prospects and challenges of SiC in the energy markets at this year’sPowerUP Expo, moderated by Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, editor-in-chief of EEWeb and Power Electronics News and editor for EE Times. The panel consisted of Jay Barrus, president of ROHM Semiconductor USA; Chris Dries, general manager of Qorvo Power Device Solutions; Peter Friedrichs, vice president of SiC at Infineon Technologies; John Perry, vice president and general manager of Discrete Power Devices at Wolfspeed; Rob Rhoades, co-founder and president of X-Trinsic; and Steven Shackell, director of Power Semiconductor Global Supplier Marketing at Arrow Electronics.
小组成员自我介绍，并为各自的公司提供了一些背景，包括最近的发展和未来的愿景。这些公司发现自己处于不断增长的需求的非常有趣的位置，他们的重点是满足这种需求，同时保持每个人都知道的产品质量。他们提供独特的产品和服务，每个产品都集中在这些基于SIC的设备找到应用程序的各个垂直领域。例如，Qorvo一直关注汽车行业及其组件，例如机上充电器和IT行业功率因子校正和DC/DC转换器。
Infineon一直专注于整个电力系统（即发电，传输和消费）的部署。除了这些公司运营的各种各样的行业外，它们在市场上的经验也有所不同，Rohm是最古老和X-Trinsic，是面板中代表的最新公司。
小组成员们一致认为，这一需求增加的一个重要方面是在世界各地，尤其是在汽车行业中都看到了快速的电气化。从车载充电器到牵引力到外部充电站的电动汽车的各个方面SIC晶圆的直接申请并为这一需求的增长做出了贡献。Rohm的Barrus提到，该行业预计将从2024年的20亿美元增长到2025年的35亿美元，然后在2030年慢慢增长到60亿美元，小组成员同意这是他们目前正在目睹的增长的相当小预测。为了为客户提供更多的服务，Rohm将其重点转移到制造更大的8英寸晶圆的制造上，这为客户提供了更多的能力，这些日子已经需要。
根据X-Trinsic的Rhoades，对8英寸晶圆的需求的满意度将进一步加速其采用。EV中系统的功率密度是一个重要因素，并为高容量晶圆的转变做出了贡献。Wolfspeed在纽约的莫霍克山谷设置了一个新的制造单元，该设置占地500,000平方英尺，可用于制造8英寸的晶圆。Qorvo的Dries表示，尽管8英寸晶圆的能力提供了更大的容量，但6英寸的晶圆仍可以留在这里，因为他们仍然发现了广泛的应用，尤其是在汽车行业中。
Wolfspeed’s Perry, when asked about the recent news about the decreasing cost of the 800-V battery pack, replied that the customers are vouching right now for increased capacity and how the company is taking efforts to increase the capacity of their components is what excites their customers the most. Perry also mentioned that “obviously, over time, the economy of scale, especially the automotive industry, is going to give us huge economies of scale from new traction inverters, and the cost will come down.”
With regard to the challenges faced by the companies right now, a major part is contributed by the increasing demand. This puts a lot of pressure on the supply chain, as it is not only necessary to design quality products but to ensure that enough products exist to be delivered to the customers. In Perry’s words, the challenge is to “get the quality and the economics and to be able to do it at scale.” The very transition from 6- to 8-inch wafers is a challenge in itself that will push the capabilities of the companies to the edge. The number of wafers per batch will decrease due to geometric constraints, and the cost of the individual wafers are also increasing. This puts a strain on the manufacturing process itself to be able to synthesize these wafers without many losses. An interesting shift is toward single processing compared with the pre-existing batch-processing methods. This method helps limit the number of wafers wasted in case of any event that would otherwise result in waste ranging anywhere between 12 and 28 wafers.
在将来，electrification is expected to continue to grow at a massive scale, and SiC will play a big role soon as more companies understand its advantages and start to transition to it. As for the companies represented in the talk, they are prepared to meet the expected increase in demand and are investing in technologies that will help them scale so that the shift to SiC can happen smoothly and that more people and companies can become a part of it.
This article was originally published onPower Electronics News.
