Schottky Diodes for PV Inverters and Charging Stations

Cree, Inc. introduced the new CPW5 Z-Rec high-power silicon-carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes, what the company is calling the industry’s first commercially available family of 50 Amp SiC rectifiers.

Designed to deliver the cost reduction, high efficiency, system simplicity and improved reliability of SiC technology to high power systems from 50kW to over 1MW, these new diodes can address applications that include solar inverters, industrial power supplies, induction heating, battery charging stations, wind turbine converters and traction inverters.

Developed to facilitate the direct matching of 50 Amp diodes to 50 Amp MOSFETs or IGBTs, Cree CPW5 Schottky diodes reduce system complexity and cost by enabling the replacement of multiple low-voltage, low-current SiC Schottky diodes, or silicon PiN diodes, with a single CPW5 rectifier. Additional cost savings can be achieved through reduced maximum voltage ratings and the elimination of snubber circuitry due to the diminished voltage overshoot during switching in silicon carbide.

Cree CPW5 diodes enable a new generation of high-current Si/SiC IGBT modules. Hybrid Si/SiC IGBT modules can deliver up to a 43%reduction in switching losses over conventional modules, while also reducing  voltage- and current-overshoot, switching dead time and cooling requirements. As an added benefit, design engineers can use the same gate driver design and circuits used with conventional modules, allowing easy and immediate implementation. Cree CPW5 diodes also provide a peak forward surge resistance greater than 500 Amps repetitive and 2000 Amps non-repetitive, delivering increased reliability under the harshest electrical conditions.

The CPW5 family of Z-Rec Schottky diodes includes 1700V/50A, 1200V/50A, 650V/50A and 650V/30A combinations.  The new CPW5 diodes are available immediately in bare die form from SemiDice.