Gallium Nitride Replaces Silicon Carbide In Automotive Applications
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Update time : 2023-04-17 10:19:16
As a third-generation semiconductor material, silicon carbide (SiC) is suitable for making high-temperature, high-frequency, radiation-resistant and high-power devices, and was once seen as an ideal material for the new energy vehicle sector. But Tesla said at this year's investor day that it plans to reduce the use of SiC transistors by 75% in its next generation of electric vehicle powertrains in order to further reduce vehicle costs.
GaN Introduction
In 1932, W.C. Johnson et al. first reported the fabrication of GaN materials at high temperatures. GaN, as a broadband semiconductor material, has high breakdown electric field strength, high thermal conductivity, high saturation electron velocity, and good stability. Also due to the polarisation effect, high performance two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) exists on the surface of the heterojunction, and devices based on it have the advantage of low on-resistance and high switching frequency. The main devices based on GaN materials are high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), SBDs, metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MISFETs), light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and so on. Compared to SiC devices, GaN devices operate at higher frequencies and have a higher quality factor.
GaN Applications
Unlike SiC, which is focused on high voltage applications, GaN has the advantage of focusing more on high frequencies, allowing for efficient power conversion. This also means that GaN can effectively increase the power density of products to meet higher energy efficiency requirements with smaller size, lighter weight and lower total cost of ownership. Also different from SiC, which is directly in the automotive field, GaN is in the consumer electronics market "lurking" for a long time before gradually showing its head in the data communication, automotive and industrial markets. In the automotive sector, GaN is mainly used in car chargers, DC/DC converters (voltage range 48V to 400V), LIDAR; in data centres, for example, GaN devices are also gradually taking their place, providing a more efficient and compact power architecture.
GaN Applications
As a key core device to support the construction of the "new infrastructure", GaN downstream applications hit the "new infrastructure" in 5G base stations, extra high voltage, new energy charging piles, intercity high-speed rail, data centres, military radar and other major areas of demand. In the long run, GaN's high-efficiency electrical energy conversion characteristics can help realize the efficient conversion of electrical energy in the fields of photovoltaic, wind power (electrical energy production), DC ultra-high voltage transmission (electrical energy transmission), new energy vehicles, industrial power supply, locomotive traction, consumer power supply (electrical energy use), etc., helping to achieve the goal of "carbon peak, carbon neutral". It can be seen that GaN technology and industry chain has initially formed, related devices are rapidly developing. Along with GaN technology breakthroughs, GaN is also further prying up the market and the industry scale is expected to explode. Experts say that communications and automotive will fuel the next wave of power GaN. Experts predict that the power GaN market will reach US$2 billion in 2027, of which the GaN automotive market will be worth more than US$227 million, with a CAGR of 99% between 2021 and 2027.
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