Power semiconductor faucets are once again dropping silicon carbide High voltage demand continues to stimulate market potential

"Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" (Shanghai, editor Wang Mengya) news, on the afternoon of December 17, China Resources Micro released its self-developed and mass-produced 1200V SiC MOSFET products, mainly used in new energy vehicles OBC, charging piles, industrial power, photovoltaic inverter, wind power generation and other fields.

This product has the advantages of good gate oxygen reliability, high current density, high switching speed, industrial-grade reliability, and small temperature change of Ron.

In fact, CR Micro has been in the field of silicon carbide for a long time. In 2020, CR Micro officially launched the first generation of 1200V and 650V industrial grade Silicon Carbide Schottky diode power device product series to the market. In the same year, the company's 6-inch commercial silicon carbide wafer production line was officially mass-produced, which is also the first 6-inch silicon carbide wafer production line in China to achieve commercial mass production.

On November 19 this year, China Resources Micro said on the investor interaction platform that the company's SiC diode products have been mass-produced and generated sales revenue. At the same time, it revealed that the company's 6-inch sic wafer production line is mainly for self-use, with a production capacity of about 1,000 pieces/month.

In recent years, benefiting from the rapid development of new energy vehicles, 5G communications, photovoltaics and other industries, the demand for silicon carbide has grown considerably.

IHS report shows that the market size of silicon carbide power devices is expected to exceed 10 billion US dollars in 2027, of which the sales of new energy vehicles continue to exceed expectations, making SiC MOSFETs expected to become the best-selling power devices and maintain a rapid growth rate.

DIGIMIES Research estimates that the market size of silicon carbide in electric vehicle applications can reach 650 million US dollars in 2025, and the annual growth rate is between 25% and 30% from 2021 to 2025.

The new SiC MOS product released by Crest Micro can be applied to the new energy vehicle OBC and charging pile.

High voltage demand unlocks the potential of silicon carbide

At present, the common application of car companies is a 400V high-voltage platform, 250A current can reach 100kW charging power, battery 30%-80% SOC for about 30 minutes, and there is still a big gap with the traditional gasoline car refueling experience. In order to further align with the refueling time of traditional vehicles, the industry hopes to raise the voltage platform to 800V or even higher, reaching a charging power of 300-500kW.

At the same power, when the voltage is increased from 400V to 800V, the working current will be reduced by half, and the wiring harness volume and power loss will be reduced.

The Porsche Taycan, the first production model for an 800V high-voltage platform, has increased the maximum charging power to 350KW, which can charge the power battery from 5% to 80% in about 23 minutes, equivalent to 300 km of endurance.

Domestic car companies are currently following up on the 800V high-voltage platform architecture, and are expected to achieve mass production in 2022. At present, Xiaopeng Automobile, GAC E-An, BYD e-platform, Geely Extreme Kr, Ideal Automobile, BAIC Jihu and other car companies have laid out 800V fast charging technology.

It is worth noting that the increase of the voltage platform means that the core three-electric system and air conditioning compressors, DCDC (DC transformer), OBC (vehicle charger) and other components must be able to work normally at a voltage of 800V or even 1000V.

With the gradual technical maturity of silicon carbide materials with higher voltage resistance and better thermal conductivity, silicon carbide MOSFET power semiconductor devices have begun to emerge on high-voltage platforms, which not only meet the needs of 800V voltage platforms in terms of withstand voltage and loss levels, but also have the potential to further expand to 1200V voltage platforms.

CITIC Securities said in the research report that SiC-based power semiconductors will fully replace Si-based power semiconductors due to their excellent performance of high withstand voltage, low loss and high switching frequency. It is understood that the way out for car companies to build an 800V high-voltage platform is to make a fuss about IGBTs and replace the current silicon-based IGBTs with silicon carbide (SiC) devices.

As a leading supplier of Si-based power devices in China, CR Micro has rich experience in Si-based power devices, and its MOSFETs, IGBT and other products are designed, mass-produced and applied on a large scale, laying the foundation for its position in the SiC track.