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Market Market
Indeed, from a theoretical consumer market while GaN SiP or SoC solutions converters, but they can also be found in electric
point of view, GaN offers fan- are mainly used in fast chargers. Some discrete and hybrid electric vehicles (xEV) since some
tastic technical advantages GaN solutions are being proposed in this market, years ago, basically implemented in main invert-
over traditional Si MOSFET. but we expect GaN IC solutions to dominate in ers. With the increasing electrification goals from
Moreover, the lowering of prices the next five years, enabling easier solutions for major OEMs with tens of xEV models launched
can make GaN devices a good end-users who benefit from the smaller size. by 2025, the automotive market has become the
competitor to the currently foremost driver, and as such will hold more than
used Si-based power switch- In this context, the 2020-2021 period is crucial 45% of total module market in 2025 , .
ing transistors. Nevertheless, for GaN-based fast chargers in terms of techni-
the improvement of silicon cal, economic, and sourcing aspects. Faster mar- There is a clear competition between IGBT and
SJ MOSFETs will keep these ket expansion in consumer applications can be SiC modules in xEV, and performance, cost and
devices in the market and drive expected once GaN achieves high maturity and reliability are the key parameters that will de-
Figure 1: discrete power electronics market trends.
standardization and populari- market acceptance, as well as cost-competitive- termine the design win. Indeed, SiC becomes
DISCRETE DEVICES: THE zation. Thus, the technical landscape is not clear; ness compared to Si MOSFET. Today, new players interesting when high power density is required.
LARGEST MARKET FOR POWER every manufacturer presents its own solution for are entering the market, but the historical play- The 800V battery vehicles represent a significant
SEMICONDUCTORS die design and packaging integration. ers are keeping their lead by decreasing produc- market opportunity for SiC, and players such as
Today, the largest share of the power device tion costs as much as possible or by introducing Lucid with the Lucid Air have opened the race
market is for silicon MOSFET devices, which From a manufacturing point of view, the first different technologies. (as did Tesla with its main inverter). On the other
account for 44% of the total power market value. technological issue is at the substrate level; the hand, IGBT modules are cost competitive and re-
Despite the decrease in automotive and consum- high thermal expansion coefficient mismatch liable, so there will still be a big market for them.
er end-system sales due to the COVID-19 lock- between GaN and Si leads to the need for super- MODULE DEVICE: A HIGHLY We expect to see SiC technology in the main
down in the first half of 2020, we still expect a lattice interlayers in the manufacturing process. PROMISING MARKET inverters from big OEMs such as Audi, Toyota, Nio
CAGR 2019-2025 of 2.3%. Innovations in term of epitaxy deposition and IGBT modules account today for 22% of the total or VW in the next 5 years .
manufacturing processes are leading to very low power market, and are traditionally used in ap-
Overall, MOSFET accounts for 74% of the dis- manufacturing yields and reproducibility issues, plications such as industrial or renewable energy In contrast to the standard automotive mar-
crete market with significant shares for consum- which have an impact of at least 40% on the final
er, computing, and automotive markets, while die cost. In 2019, following the entry of Power
other reliable Silicon components, such as IGBTs, Integration’s device in the consumer fast charg-
are used in lower volumes for white goods or er market, GaN-on-sapphire has made plenty
welding systems. Yole expects that the MOSFET of noise. GaN-on-sapphire’s low cost, easier
market share will decrease with the penetration growth, and lower dislocation density are cru-
of GaN devices in consumer fast chargers: 2019 cial advantages, and GaN-on-sapphire benefits
and 2020 have seen many such adoptions, with from the very mature LED industry’s capacity and
Chinese OEMs adopting GaN for high power inbox know-how. To achieve normally-off operation,
chargers for luxury phones (Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo or which is strongly desired for safe operation, is
Meizu) and accessory fast charger adoption from another technical issue for GaN power switching
Samsung and Huawei. On the other hand, we transistors. Again, manufacturers propose differ-
think that there will be a limited market for SiC ent solutions, such as Gate Injection Transistor
discrete transistors, today used in large quanti- structure, E-Mode transistor, or cascode design.
ties in onboard charger (OBC) systems for high Another issue to be considered in GaN integra-
efficiency systems, but the driving force for SiC tion is the integration of a transistor driver. Inte-
will be in modules. gration is an obvious technological trend in the Figure 2: GaN based devices technology: which strategy.
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