APPLICATION OF SILICON
CARBIDE (SiC) POWER DEVICES
Dr.R.SEYEZHAI
PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF EEE
SSN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CHENNAI
INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of renewable energy systems (RES),
especially photovoltaic (PV) energy and wind energy, poses
increasing requirements for high power,
low-loss, fast-switching,
reliable semiconductor devices to improve system power
capacity,
efficiency, power density and reliability
The recent commercialization of wide bandgap (WBG)
devices, specifically Silicon Carbide (SiC) provides very
promising opportunities for meeting such requirements
with their attractive features of high voltage blocking
capability, ultra-low switching losses, fast switching
speed, and high allowable operating temperatures.
NEED FOR SiC DEVICES
Over the last fifty years, silicon power devices have achieved
great improvement in speed, voltage and current rating.
Switching device voltage ratings are below 6.5 kV and current
ratings are in the range of a few thousand ampere. Currently, the
Si IGBT is the main component for power electronics for these
applications
Using the current Si IGBT modules with a 3.5 kV rating (6.5 kV
Silicon IGBTs are too slow) requires having too many modules
in series and /or in multi-level topologies, and must use a low
switching frequency of 1-2 kHz, making the passive
components very big and bulky.
SiC TECHNOLOGY
RECENT advances in wide band-gap semiconductors have
opened up new possibilities in the efficiency of power
conversion. Silicon carbide (SiC) by virtue of its wider band
gap, higher critical field and higher thermal conductivity can
block higher voltages, switch faster and deliver better electro
thermal performance under harsh conditions
These superior material properties translates to higher
converter efficiency resulting in reduced heat sink size,
cooling efforts, weight and size of passive component
thereby reducing the cost and increasing the power density
of power converters.
What makes SiC switch so attractive?
• The advantages of SiC compared to Si based devices are:
• High power efficiency
• High switching speed
• Low conduction & Low switching losses
• High temperature operating capabilities
Physical properties of SiC compared with Si
SIGNIFICANCE OF SiC DEVICES
Advantages of SiC
APPLICATIONS
Based on the properties of Silicon carbide, the
application of Silicon Carbide power semiconductors
can be classified into the following categories
High temperature devices
Electronic devices that operate at high ambient
temperature conditions (e.g. in the field of avionics,
industrial systems, military equipments or automotive
technology) could reduce the packaging requirements
and overall cost of the system.
APPLICATIONS
High-power devices
Higher-power operation can greatly extend the
capabilities of switching devices and amplifiers used in
transmitters, motors, and control systems
Electromagnetic pulse and radiation
hardness
The ability to withstand electromagnetic pulses and
high radiation exposure is important for many military
and space electronics uses. Sensor and control
electronics in nuclear power plants is another possible
use
GLOBAL FORECAST AND MARKET ANALYSIS OF SiC
PROPECTS APPLICATION OF POWER GRID
OPERATING FREQUENCY
POLYTYPES OF SiC
The SiC crystals chemically consist of 50% carbon atoms covalently
bonded with 50% silicon atoms.
Unlike the silicon unique crystal structure, SiC has over 100
structures (polytypes) because of different stacking order of silicon
and carbon atoms. However, only three polytypes are used for
semiconductor production: the cubic 3C-SiC, hexagonal 4H-SiC and
6H-SiC. The letter indicates the geometrical form of the crystal
structure and the number shows the stacking sequence.
4-H SiC
6-H SiC
COMPARISON
SiC Power Devices
TYPES
There are a number of 10 kV-class SiC switches that are currently
at various stages of development at Cree, Inc.:
(1) SiC MOSFETs,
(2) SiC GTOs and Thyristors, and
(3) SiC IGBTs, including n-IGBTs and p-IGBTs.
(4) Of this family, the SiC MOSFETs are the most mature, SiC GTOs
and Thyristors are next in maturity and SiC IGBTs are the least
mature.
SiC –SCHOTTKY DIODE and SiC RECTIFIER
SiC THYRISTORS and TRANSISTORS
SiCBJT
SiC MOSFET
Silicon Carbide BJT
Silicon Carbide IGBT
SILICON CARBIDE (SiC) MOSFET
• Cree’s CMF20120D (1.2 kV, 33 A) device is used.
• Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFET is a wide gap device which can operate at high
voltage, high temperature and high speed applications
• 4-H SiC polytype is preferred and it is also known as α-SiC having high band
gap energy ( Eev) of 3.2 eV which is three times that of Si.
• High break down electric field ( E b ) of 2.0 X 106 V / cm and thermal
conductivity (α ) is four times that of Si which provides better cooling with less
heat sink requirement.
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STRUCTURE OF SiC MOSFET
JUNCTION STRUCTURE
Si Vs. SiC MOSFET
SiC MOSFET IS CHOSEN FOR RENEWABLE APPLICATION
APPLICATION OF SiC MOSFET FOR
PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATIONS
A Solar PV panel produces DC electrical power, which is different from AC
power that we receive from our electrical grid supply.
There are appliances that use either DC power or AC power for their operation.
Most of the equipment used in our homes use AC power. Therefore it is often
required to convert DC power into AC power.
The conversion of DC power to AC power can be achieved using a device called
inverter (or DC to AC converter). It is also possible to convert AC power into DC
power using a rectifier.
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