新兴 Emerging markets of silicon carbide and gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors are expected to reach nearly $1 billion by 2020, driven by demand for hybrid and electric vehicles, power and photovoltaic (PV) inverters.
应用 The application of SiC and GaN power semiconductors in main drive inverters for hybrid and electric vehicles will result in a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 35% after 2017 and $10 billion in 2027.
GaN By 2020, GaN-on-silicon (Si) transistors are expected to be at the same price as silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), while offering the same advantages. Performance. Once this benchmark is reached, the GaN power market is expected to reach $600 million in 2024 and climb to more than $1.7 billion in 2027.
IHS Markit Analysis
Expectations for continued strong growth in the SiC industry are high, with the main driver being growth in hybrid and electric vehicle sales. Market penetration is also growing, especially in China, Schottky diodes, MOSFETs, junction gate field effect transistors (JFETs) And other SiC discrete devices have appeared in mass-produced automotive DC-DC converters, car battery chargers.
More and more obvious signs are that the main drive inverter – using SiC MOSFETs instead of Si IGBTs – will start appearing on the market within 3-5 years. Due to the large number of devices In the main inverter, far more than the number in the DC-DC converter and car charger, this will quickly increase the equipment demand. Perhaps at some point, the inverter manufacturer finally chooses custom full SiC Power modules, not SiC discrete devices. Integration, control and package optimization are the main advantages of modular assembly.
Not only will the number of SiC devices per vehicle increase, but the new global registration requirements for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will also increase by 10 times between 2017 and 2027. Because many governments around the world are targeting targets to reduce air pollution while reducing the number of vehicles that rely on burning fossil fuels. China, India, France, the United Kingdom and Norway have announced plans to ban cars with internal combustion engines in the next few decades and replace them with cleaner ones. The future of electrified vehicles will generally become very good, especially for wide bandgap semiconductors.
SiC
Compared with the first generation semiconductor material Si and the second generation semiconductor material GaAs, SiC has better physical and chemical properties, including high thermal conductivity, high hardness, chemical resistance, high temperature resistance, transparency to light waves, etc. SiC The excellent thermal properties and anti-irradiation properties of the material also make it one of the materials of choice for the preparation of UV photodetectors. In addition, SiC-based sensors can compensate for the performance defects of Si-based sensors in harsh environments such as high temperature and high voltage. Wide application space. Wide bandgap semiconductor power devices represented by SiC are one of the fastest growing power semiconductor devices in the field of power electronics.
SiC power electronic devices mainly include power diodes and transistors (transistors, switching transistors). SiC power devices can double the power, temperature, frequency, radiation resistance, efficiency and reliability of power electronic systems, bringing volume, weight and cost. Significantly reduced. SiC power device applications can be divided by voltage:
⚫Low-voltage applications (600 V to 1.2 kV): high-end consumer applications (such as gaming consoles, plasma and LCD TVs), commercial applications (such as laptops, solid-state lighting, electronic ballasts, etc.) and other areas (such as medical , telecommunications, defense, etc.)
⚫ Medium voltage applications (1.2kV to 1.7kV): electric vehicles / hybrid electric vehicles (EV / HEV), solar photovoltaic inverters, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and industrial motor drives (AC drive).
⚫ High voltage applications (2.5kV, 3.3kV, 4.5kV and above 6.5kV): wind power, locomotive traction, high voltage / UHV power transmission and so on.
GaN
GaN power devices and other types of power semiconductors are used in power electronics. Basically, power electronics use a variety of solid-state electronic components to more efficiently control and convert electrical energy from anything from a smartphone charger to a large power plant. Among these solid-state components, the chip handles switching and power conversion functions.
GaN is an ideal choice for these applications. GaN is based on gallium and III-V nitrides and is a wide bandgap process, meaning it is faster than traditional silicon-based devices and can provide higher Breakdown voltage.
The biggest inhibitor of SiC device growth may be GaN devices. The first GaN transistor conforming to the automotive AEC-Q101 specification was released by Transphorm in 2017, and the GaN device fabricated on GaN-on-Si epitaxial wafers has a relatively low cost. It is also easier to fabricate any product on a SiC wafer. For these reasons, GaN transistors may become the first choice for inverters in the late 2020s, which is superior to the more expensive SiC MOSFETs.
Transphorm's innovative Cascode structure
In recent years, the most interesting story about GaN power devices is the arrival of GaN system integrated circuits (ICs), which encapsulate GaN transistors with silicon gate driver ICs or monolithic full GaN ICs. Once their performance is targeted at mobile phones and Notebook chargers and other high-volume applications are optimized and are likely to be widely available on a wider scale. Conversely, the development of commercial GaN power diodes has never really begun because they fail to provide significant performance relative to Si devices. The benefits, related developments have proven to be too expensive and not feasible. SiC Schottky diodes have been well used for this purpose and have a good pricing roadmap.