SiC solutions enabling radical new product designs with best system cost-performance ratio.
The future of power semiconductors
The use of SiC based power semiconductor solutions has shown a huge increase over the last years, it is a revolution to rely on. Driving forces behind this market development are the following trends: energy saving, size reduction, system integration and improved reliability.
The combination of a fast silicon based switch with a SiC diode – is oftent ermed a “hybrid” solution. In recent years Infineon has manufactured several millions of hybrid modules and has seen them installed in various customer products.
The increase of switching frequency for a converter using SiC MOSFETs can result in dramatically reduced volume and weight of the magnetic components. From an analysis carried out by Infineon, a converter built on SiC devices is a third of the size and 25 percent of the weight compared to a current Si based reference solution. Thanks to the signif- icant reduction in volume and weight, the system cost can also be reduced by more than 20 percent.
Over the next few years, SiC solutions will expand into other application fields such as industrial or traction drives. The reasons for this are the market forces pushing for loss reduction, not only for the sake of improved efficiency but also for smaller packages – resulting from reduced heat sink requirements. As shown in figure above, SiC is already being used for high end and niche solutions. Today’s de- signs use these benefits to reduce system cost in specific application areas.
Infineon CoolSiC™ – Revolution to rely on
Infineon CoolSiC™ semiconductor solutions are the next essential step towards an energy-smart world. Being the #1 in power semiconductors, we have an extensive applica- tion know-how resulting in the right SiC product portfolio, enabling our customers to develop radical new product designs with best system cost-performance ratio. Based on proven, high quality volume manufacturing, Infineon CoolSiC™ solutions combine revolutionary technology with benchmark reliability – making our customers successful today and tomorrow.
CoolSiCTM MOSFET
Features
› Low device capacitances
› Temperature independent switching losses
› Intrinsic diode with low reverse recovery charge
› Threshold-free on-state characteristics
Advantages
› Superior gate oxide reliability
› Best in class switching and conduction losses
› IGBT compatible driving (+15 V)
› Threshold voltage, Vth > 4 V
› Short-circuit robustness
Benefits
› Highest efficiency for reduced cooling effort
› Longer lifetime and higher reliability
› Higher frequency operation
› Reduction in system cost
› Increased power density
› Reduced system complexity
› Ease of design and implementation
Applications
› Photo-Voltaic inverters (PV)
› Energy storage / Battery charging
› Un-interruptable Power Supplies (UPS)
› Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS)
› Industrial drives
› Medical
Based on volume experience and compatibility know-how, Infineon introduces the revolutionary CoolSiC™ MOSFET technology which enables radically new product designs. In comparison to traditional Si based switches like IGBTs and MOSFETs, the SiC MOSFET offer s a series of advantages. These include, the lowest gate charge and device capacitances levels seen in 1200 V switches, no reverse recovery losses of the internal commutation proof body diode, tempera- ture independent low switching losses and threshold-free on-state character- istics. CoolSiC™ MOSFET first products in 1200 V target photovoltaic inverters, battery charging and energy storage. CoolSiC™ MOSFET represents the best performance, reliability and ease of use for system designers to harness never before seen levels of efficienc y and system flexibility.
CoolSiC™ MOSFET first products are targeted for photovoltaic inverters, battery charging and energy storage.
TO-247-4pin package contains an additional connection to the source (Kelvin connection) that is used as a reference potential for the gate driving voltage, thereby eliminating the effec t of voltage drops over the source inductance. The result is even lower switching losses than for TO247-3pin version, especially at higher currents and higher switching frequencies. Easy1B modules offerav ery good thermal interface, a low stray inductance and robust design as well as PressFIT connections.
The products portfolio will be extended within the next years. The first step is a roll-out of diff erent topologies like Sixpack and Halfbridge covering a power range from 2kW until 200kW.
CoolSiC™ Schottky diodes G5
The differences in material properties between Silicon Carbide and Silicon limit the fabrication of practical Silicon unipolar diodes (Schottky diodes) to a range up to 100 V–150 V, with relatively high on-state resistance and leakage current. In SiC material Schottky diodes can reach a much higher breakdown voltage. Up to 1200 V as discrete products and up to 1700 V in modules is offered by Infineon. The fast switching characteristics of SiC Schottky diodes provide clear efficiency improvements at system level. The performance gap between SiC and high-end Si diodes increases with the operating frequency.
Excellent efficiency and surge current capability
SiC Schottky Diode generation 5 offers the optimum efficiency and ruggedness. Lower VF means lower conduction loss and lower Qc means lower switching loss. Qc x VF is the figure of merit for efficiency and comparison indicates that generation 5 matches the best competitors on the market. In addition, SiC generation 5 offers a surge current robustness far better than that offered by the most efficient products. Thus, under abnormal conditions this surge current capability offers excellent device robustness. All around, SiC generation 5 offers excellent efficiency and surge current capability at the same time. No other SiC diode product on the market offers such good balance between efficiency and surge current capability. Some vendors offer better efficiency but weak surge current, while others offer better surge current but are less attractive in efficiency.
CoolSiC™ Schottky diodes G5: best price/ performance
This product family has been optimized from all key aspects including junction structure, substrate and
die attach. It represents a well-balanced product family which offers state of the art performance and high surge current capability at competitive cost level.
Innovation: optimized junction, substrate and die attach Infineon SiC Schottky Diode generation 5 is optimized with regard to all key aspects relevant for high power and high efficiency SMPS applications.
SiC at Infineon
More than 15 years of field experience
Infineon is a pioneer in the commercial use of this technology. As the first company worldwide SiC based diodes were introduced in the market in 2001 already, followed by the worldwide first commercial power modules containing SiC components in 2006. Meanwhile the 5th generation of such parts is available as discrete devices.
In power modules Infineon offers solutions based or empowered by SiC mainly for solar applications and selected motor drive applications . The product design was strongly oriented on a careful cost performance evaluation in order to use the new technology in systems and circuits where a tangible system advantage could be identified.
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