Page 26 - EE Times Europe Magazine | June2020

26 EE|Times EUROPE

Reliable and Efficient Control of SiC MOSFETs
NEWS

AI Chip Market Will

Hit US$70B in 2026

The worldwide market for AI accelerator
chipsets is predicted to grow from
US$8 billion in 2019 to US$70 billion by
2026, according to a new report by analyst
Global Market Insights. This represents a
remarkable uptake in the technology from
its present position — a compound annual
growth rate of 35%.
The growth is due in part to the increase in
popularity of e-commerce platforms that use
Figure 5: Digital gate driving is superior to analog driving. (Image: Microchip Technology) AI-based recommendation engines housed
in the cloud. The growing acceptance of
cloud-powered virtual assistants that use AI
implements a half-bridge driver up to a kits for productive development with digital to understand speech is also driving demand.
400-kHz switching frequency (Figure 3). The gate drivers. The 62-mm Electrical Master Financial services companies are also exten-
MSCSICPFC/REF5 is a three-phase Vienna Plug and Play SiC Gate Driver is optimized for sively adopting AI to improve fraud detection
power-factor–corrected (PFC) reference traction, heavy-duty vehicle, and induction and better calculate lending risks.
design for hybrid EV/EV chargers for 30-kW heating applications. The Augmented Switch- The European market is expected to expe-
applications (Figure 4). ing Accelerated Development Kit (ASDAK) rience a surge in demand due to the region’s
The Vienna 30-kW three-stage PFC, the includes the hardware and software elements many companies working on systems for
SiC, and the SP3/SP6LI modules drive refer- required for rapid optimization of SiC module autonomous driving. Autonomous vehicles
ence projects and boards that provide system and system performance, giving system use AI chipsets to interpret data from cameras
developers with tools to reduce development designers the flexibility to adjust system per- and combine it with information from other
cycle time. Power-factor correction is critical formance through software updates using the sensors such as LiDAR and ultrasound to build
in addressing the sources of potential loss and Intelligent Configuration Tool (ICT). The ICT up a picture of their environment. According
should be implemented accordingly. offers configuration of several drive param- to the report, the European market will grow
eters, including on/off gate voltages, DC link 33% between 2020 and 2026, driven by auton-
DIGITAL GATE DRIVERS and temperature failure levels, and increased omous-vehicle development activity.
Microchip’s AgileSwitch digital gate driv- switching profiles.
ers effectively reduce EMI problems and Arm Offers Free
switching losses by up to 50% (Figure 5).
Digital solutions are designed to address the Digital programmable gate Upfront Access
critical challenges that arise in operating SiC drivers have been designed
and IGBT power devices at high switching to Small Startups
frequencies. They can switch at up to to address problems such as
200 kHz and provide up to seven different system noise, short-circuits, Arm is expanding its Flexible Access program
failure conditions and monitoring conditions. to offer new startups the most conducive initial
“Our gate drivers were designed to address overvoltage, and overheating. licensing terms possible: free. The new initia-
all of these issues such as noise in the system, tive, Flexible Access for Startups, offers access
short-circuit overheating, and overvoltage,” SiC MOSFET modules can to some of Arm’s most valuable intellectual
said Rob Weber, product line director for be operated closer to their property at zero initial cost to companies with
AgileSwitch at Microchip Technology. “We put US$5 million or less in funding.
in a lot of functionality with regard to these rated specifications. Arm introduced Flexible Access last June
critical issues that emerge when you’re trying with a flat-fee approach to licensing that
to drive silicon carbide.” the company devised to minimize both the
The drivers feature Microchip’s Augmented By reducing turn-off spikes and ringing, cost and bureaucratic barriers to designing
Switching technology and robust short- under normal operation as well as under with its products. The terms included a fee of
circuit protection and are fully configurable short-circuit (DSAT) conditions, SiC MOSFET US$75,000 a year for one tape-out annually
via software. They are optimized for transpor- modules can be safely operated at higher or US$200,000 a year for unlimited tape-outs.
tation and industrial applications, including frequencies that enable dramatic increases But that’s still too dear for the innumerable
inverters and induction heating. in power conversion density. This allows SiC tiny startups looking to demonstrate that their
Figure 6 shows the stylized waveform of MOSFET modules to be operated closer to proposals have merit in order to earn a next
turning on and turning off the switch. “We their rated specifications, resulting in size, round of funding.
turn the switch on and off in steps where we cost, and performance improvements. ■ Early-stage startups now can access a range
modify the voltage and the time at the differ- of Arm IP at no cost, allowing them to experi-
ent voltage level for the both the turn-on and Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio is a staff ment, design, and prototype with various Arm
the turn-off,” said Weber. correspondent at AspenCore, editor of Power solutions throughout the product development
Microchip provides numerous development Electronics News, and editor-in-chief of EEWeb. cycle, the company said.

JUNE 2020 | www.eetimes.eu