The transition from silicon to silicon carbide is the biggest change in the power semiconductor industry
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Author : TRUNNANO
Update time : 2021-02-02 09:32:47
Silicon carbide, also known as SiC, is a semiconductor substrate composed of pure silicon and pure carbon. You can dope SiC with nitrogen or phosphorus to form an n-type semiconductor, or dope SiC with beryllium, boron, aluminum, or gallium to form a p-type semiconductor. It is an extremely hard, synthetically produced crystalline compound of silicon and carbon. Since the end of the 19th century, silicon carbide has been an important material for sandpaper, grinding wheels and cutting tools. Recently, it has found its application in refractory linings and heating elements of industrial furnaces, wear-resistant parts of pumps and rocket engines, and semiconductor substrates for light-emitting diodes.
The discovery of silicon carbide Silicon carbide was discovered in 1891 by the American inventor Edward G. Acheson. When trying to produce artificial diamonds, Acheson heated a mixture of clay and coke powder in an iron bowl and used the bowl and ordinary carbon arcs as electrodes. He found bright green crystals attached to the carbon electrode and believed that he had prepared some new carbon and alumina compounds from the clay. He called this new compound emery because the natural mineral form of alumina is called corundum. Acheson discovered that these crystals were close to the hardness of diamonds, and immediately realized the importance of his discovery, so he applied for a US patent. His early products were originally used for gem polishing and sold at prices comparable to natural diamond dust. This new compound can be obtained from cheap raw materials and has a high yield. It will soon become an important industrial abrasive.
At about the same time, Acheson made the discovery that Henri Moissan of France produced a similar compound from a mixture of quartz and carbon. But in a publication in 1903, Moissan attributed the original discovery to Acheson. Some natural silicon carbide was found in the Diablo meteorite in Arizona, and its mineralogical name is willemite.
What is silicon carbide used for? Silicon carbide is used as an abrasive, as well as gem-quality semiconductor and diamond simulants. The easiest way to make silicon carbide is to mix silica sand and carbon in an Acheson graphite resistance furnace at high temperatures between 1600°C (2,910°F) and 2,500°C (4,530°F).
How strong is silicon carbide? Silicon carbide is composed of a tetrahedron of carbon and silicon atoms and has strong bonds in the crystal lattice. This produces a very hard material. Silicon carbide is not corroded by any acid, alkali or molten salt up to 800°C.
Is silicon carbide expensive? Silicon carbide is a non-oxide ceramic that can be used in a variety of products that must function in thermal (high thermal and thermal shock) and mechanically demanding applications. In contrast, single-crystal SiC has the best performance, but the manufacturing cost is high.
How to make silicon carbide in modern manufacturing? The modern method of manufacturing silicon carbide used in the abrasive, metallurgical and refractory industries is basically the same as the method developed by Acheson. A mixture of pure silica sand and carbon in the form of finely ground coke accumulates around the carbon conductor in the brick resistance furnace. Electric current passes through the conductor, causing a chemical reaction in which the carbon in the coke combines with the silicon in the sand to form SiC and carbon monoxide gas. The furnace can run for several days, during which the temperature varies from 2,200° to 2700°C (4,000° to 4,900°F) at the core to approximately 1400°C (2,500°F) at the outer edge. The energy consumption per run exceeds 100,000 kWh. At the end of the run, the product consists of loosely woven green to black SiC crystal cores, surrounded by partially or completely unconverted raw materials. The block aggregate is crushed, ground and sieved into various sizes suitable for the end-user.
For special applications, silicon carbide is produced through many advanced processes. By mixing SiC powder with carbon powder and plasticizer, the mixture is shaped into the desired shape, the plasticizer is burned, and then gaseous or molten silicon is injected into the fired object to react with carbon to form a reaction Bonded silicon carbide. Additional SiC. The wear-resistant layer of SiC can be formed by a chemical vapor deposition method, in which volatile compounds containing carbon and silicon react at high temperatures in the presence of hydrogen. For advanced electronic applications, large SiC single crystals can be grown from vapor. The ingot can then be cut into wafers very similar to silicon to make solid-state devices. For reinforced metals or other ceramics, SiC fibers can be formed in a variety of ways, including chemical vapor deposition and firing silicon-containing polymer fibers.
Is silicon carbide natural? Silicon carbide (SiC): history and applications. The only compound of silicon and carbon is silicon carbide (SiC) or silicon carbide. SiC does exist naturally in the form of the mineral moissanite, but this is very rare. However, since 1893, it has been mass-produced in powder form for use as an abrasive.
Is silicon carbide harder than a diamond? It is almost as hard as diamond and has been synthesized since the late 1800s and is naturally known by people. For naturally occurring minerals, the hardness of silicon carbide (naturally occurring in the form of diatomaceous earth) is only slightly lower than diamond. (It's still harder than any spider silk.)
The impact of silicon carbide on electrification Since the transition from bipolar to IGBT in the 1980s, the upcoming transition from silicon to silicon carbide in many power systems is the biggest change in the power semiconductor industry. At the same time as this transformation is taking place, many of the affected industries are undergoing an unusual transition period. From the automotive industry to solar energy, the advantages of silicon carbide have become unignorable. All major players are undergoing tremendous changes and are further integrating them into their technologies.
The automobile industry represents a modern model of an industry, which is undergoing an unprecedented transformation from internal combustion engines to electrification in the next ten years. The shift from silicon to silicon carbide is playing an important role in improving efficiency, helping electric vehicles meet consumer demand while meeting government regulations designed to affect climate change. In addition to promoting the development of telecommunications, military and aerospace applications, silicon carbide solutions also help electric vehicles "go further" and improve fast-charging infrastructure, drive inverters and power applications.
Electric vehicle opportunities With the increase in consumer demand and the strengthening of government regulations, automakers such as Tesla, Ford announced that they will invest more than $300 billion in electric vehicles in the next ten years. Analysts predict that by 2030, battery electric vehicles (BEV) will account for 15% of the total electric vehicles, so the silicon carbide EV component market will double in the next few years. With so much emphasis on electrification, manufacturers have been unable to ignore the benefits of silicon carbide. Compared with silicon technology with traditional electric vehicles, it improves battery range, performance and charging time.
Efficiency improvement The switching loss of silicon carbide is much lower than that of silicon IGBT. Since silicon carbide devices also have no built-in voltage, their conduction losses are also greatly reduced. All of these enable silicon carbide to provide higher power density, lighter weight and higher operating frequency. In recent automotive tests, Cree’s silicon carbide technology reduced inverter losses by approximately 78% compared to silicon.
In the automotive environment, these efficiency improvements can be used in powertrain solutions, power converters, and on-board and on-board chargers. Compared with traditional silicon solutions, this can increase overall efficiency by 5% to 10%, which manufacturers can use to increase range or reduce the number of bulky and expensive batteries used. Silicon carbide also reduces cooling requirements, saves space, and weighs less than its silicon counterpart. It also allows fast chargers to add 75 miles of range in about five minutes.
The further increase in the adoption rate is the continued decline in the cost of silicon carbide solutions. Continuing to take the car as an example, we estimate that electric cars will contain silicon carbide components worth 250 to 500 US dollars, depending on their power needs. Thanks to savings in battery costs, space and weight of batteries and inverters, and cooling requirements, automakers can see savings of up to $2,000 per electric vehicle. Although many factors are driving the transition from silicon to silicon carbide, this factor is crucial.
Beyond the automotive industry Although the automotive industry accounts for about half of the $9 billion silicon carbide opportunity pipeline, there are few other major demand drivers. Canaccord Genuity recently estimated that by 2030, demand for silicon carbide will exceed US$20 billion.
Silicon carbide power devices also enable industrial and energy companies to fully utilize every kilowatt-hour of electricity and every square meter of floor space. By enabling high-frequency industrial power supplies and uninterruptible power supplies with higher efficiency, higher power density, and lighter weight, the advantages of silicon carbide far exceed the cost of this field. In this field, higher efficiency equals greater profits.
In power electronics, silicon carbide is much more efficient than silicon, and its power density is three times that of silicon, making high-voltage systems lighter, smaller, more efficient and cheaper. Such excellent performance has reached a critical point, in this market, those manufacturers who want to remain competitive in the current market will no longer ignore it.
The future of semiconductors Cost used to be the main obstacle to the adoption of silicon carbide, but due to the increase in quantity and experience, the cost has been declining, which has led to more efficient and simplified manufacturing. More importantly, customers have realized that the real value of silicon carbide lies at the system level, not the comparison between components. However, with the further development of the manufacturing industry and the increase in output required to meet the needs of multiple industries, prices will continue to fall.
Whether or when we are in the transition from silicon to silicon carbide, this is no longer a problem, and now is an exciting time to participate in so many industries undergoing comprehensive changes. The future of these industries will never remain the same, but we will continue to see unprecedented changes, and manufacturers who can quickly adapt to these changes will certainly gain a lot.
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