Abstract
The expansion of the electric vehicle market is driving the request for efficient and reliable power electronic systems for electric energy conversion and processing. The efficiency, size, and cost of a power system is strongly related to the performance of power semiconductor devices, where massive industrial investments and intense research efforts are being devoted to new wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). The electrical and thermal properties of SiC and GaN enable the fabrication of semiconductor power devices with performance well beyond the limits of silicon. However, a massive migration of the power electronics industry towards WBG materials can be obtained only once the corresponding fabrication technology reaches a sufficient maturity and a competitive cost. In this paper, we present a perspective of power electronics based on WBG semiconductors, from fundamental material characteristics of SiC and GaN to their potential impacts on the power semiconductor device market. Some application cases are also presented, with specific benchmarks against a corresponding implementation realized with silicon devices, focusing on both achievable performance and system cost.
Highlights
Silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors have been recently introduced in the power semiconductor market to complement and/or replace silicon devices [1]
There is a phase in which the device is in the so-called semi-ON condition, characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of high drain voltage and current. This semi-ON stress causes a degradation of the GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) RON, that is only slowly recovered, and that has an impact on performance, in terms of higher switching loss, either due to the higher RON or to the fact that devices are used at lowerthan-nominal blocking voltage
The fundamental properties of wide bandgap semiconductors show that GaN and SiC have the potential to push the performance of power electronics well beyond what can be obtained with silicon devices
Summary
Silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors have been recently introduced in the power semiconductor market to complement and/or replace silicon devices [1]. As the GaN fabrication process will become more mature and the device reliability will correspondingly improve, the GaN application area will expand towards higher voltage and power. According to market predictions, both SiC and GaN revenues will increase with a cumulative annual growth rate of 35% and 75% in the five years, respectively [18]. This means that in 5 years GaN could reach the same market share as the one of SiC today, while SiC could rise to about 10% of the power electronics market. We limit our consideration to 4-H SiC and GaN, the most relevant WBG materials from the industrial point of view, and we will use silicon technology – the dominant and most mature technology for electronics – as the reference benchmark in our discussion
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