Page 56 - Power Electronics News - December 2020
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Semiconductors                                                                                                                                                                                             Semiconductors


          voltage, it may be even more advanced than just      from several points of view. So silicon carbide,                  can see there’s a lot of people offering even 650    come for silicon carbide, similar modules for

          making a Schottky.                                   the substrate material is difficult to make, and                  volt devices now. So I think all of this discrete    many vendors. So that’ll help people to use them
                                                               that’s why it took a little while for the six inch                offering many package types, voltage classes,        more. And those are the applications.
          Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio (15:39): So this            material to become of high enough quality that                    RDS on classes, it’s going to become very big,
          integrate-                                           we could release these very low resistance                        kind of like silicon. Following in the footsteps of   Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio (20:59): So thank
                                                               devices, like seven milli-ohm 650 volt, nine milli-               Silicon. Main application areas we are serving?      you so much, Anup. Thanks for your time.
          Anup Bhalla (15:40): Low voltages, I think           ohm, 1200 volt. But it’s become so good now                       Automotive, battery charging, the server and the
          Schottkys will remain.                               that we can think about releasing devices down,                   telecom, our supplies with our 650 volt devices,     Anup Bhalla (21:03): [crosstalk 00:21:02].
                                                               we have 5 milli-ohm and below, right? So but it                   energy storage. But for us, one very important
          Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio (15:43): Yeah. So           takes awhile. And I expect the same thing will                    area is solid state breakers and solid state power   Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio (21:03): I really

          this integration will give benefits for power losses   happen when we move to eight-inch. The same                     controllers, trying to replace DC contactors.        appreciated your time. Very nice to talk with you.
          if I understand well?                                problem because in GaN as well, because you                                                                            So thank you. Thank you so much.
                                                               grow GaN on silicon, you’re growing a material                    Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio (20:01): Yes.
          Anup Bhalla (15:50): Yeah. I think if the            that’s not lattice matched to the substrate. And                                                                       Anup Bhalla (21:08): Nice to talk to you.
          integration of the Schottky inside the MOSFET        so there’s a lot of challenges balancing the stress               Anup Bhalla (20:01): It’s a very challenging         Thanks Maurizio. Bye.
          means if you make a half bridge, you’ve got          and keeping good quality. It works well at six inch               application because of the cost and all of this,
          normal bipolar store charge, you’ve got Schottky     now. And with the passage of time, it’ll start to                 but very promising because you can do so many        Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio (21:15): Okay.

          like diode recovery. And if you want to turn the     work well at eight inch as well.                                  things with solid state switches. And then we
          gate on, then you can even remove the knee                                                                             also have JFETs that we are making and selling
          voltage of the Schottky, the one volt knee, gone.    Anup Bhalla (18:26): So at the same, they’re                      for people to integrate into fly back converters.
          So conduction losses come down.                      running sort of similar types of challenges in                    So there’s the beginning of more such integration
                                                               very different materials. But of course, Silicon                  where there’s an IC, like a driver plus the FET,
          Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio (16:10): Yeah.              Carbide’s been doing this for a much longer time.                 or a half bridge driver plus those FETs, this
          Okay, good. So the market, as you know, is           Now, what we can expect from a technology                         integration, it can be a solution to a lot of
          continuing its race towards I guess for more         improvement point of view is given that these                     challenges of high speed packaging that you were
          power, if even more power. And you told me           material challenges are under good control,                       talking about before.

          about silicone carbide, and we know that silicon     at least for Silicon Carbide, we see that every
          carbide and gallium nitride semiconductors           two to three years we will be reducing our                        Anup Bhalla (20:35): And so I think
          bring advantages over silicon semiconductor          RDSA[MDPE3] . What resistance you get from                        integration in the next few years is definitely
          for a lot of power application. So how are           what for chip area by factors of two. There’s                     going to happen, right? You see a lot of power
          designers working with these new, if we can          a long way to go in Silicon Carbide. So we will                   modules from different companies, but so far our
          say, semiconductors have to face some real life      release a generation four soon which reduces our                  modules have been very specific or customized.              GO TO WEB ARTICLE >
          challenges in terms of design, but also substrate    own resistance per unit area by two times. And                    I’m confident that standard power modules will

          wafer, and so on. What do we expect for the          then, again, in a few years we will do the same.
          next generation? What does the future hold for       So this will really help bring the cost down.
          silicone carbide? But also a look for again, if you   And I hope with all the volume growth that is                    For More Information
          would suggest me something. In what areas, so        happening now, that reduces cost by itself just
          you think that there will be a good opportunity      from having high volume.
          for a good expansion of technology sales for a                                                                                ▶ UnitedSiC
          good leadership in the market?                       Anup Bhalla (19:20): So it looks very good
                                                               for Silicon Carbide to have more cost effective,                         ▶ SiC Technology
          Anup Bhalla (17:31): So I’ll give you an answer      much higher technology products. And then you


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