Sic Semiconductor to Accelerate Electromobiles Miniaturization

The driving factor for the rapid development of hybrid power and electromobiles in America and Japan is the spread of silicon carbide semiconductor technologies. In electromobile field, most of Sic devices employed are Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors and MOSFET. The biggest advantage of Sic power devices applied in electromobiles is that it can accelerate miniaturization of power module. If taken advantage of Sic power devices, the volume of intelligent power module can shrink by one-third.

According to Lux's prediction, wide-band-gap semiconductor materials, such as Sic and GaN are the most ideal materials to improve the performance of electromobiles, and that Sic is likely to replace silicon materials in 2020 at the soonest.

While silicon materials strive to reach higher performance standard, wide-band-gap semiconductor materials have already started to benefit. Take Tesla Motors “S” type for example, 20% energy off means reducing $6000 battery costs, or 8% of the electromobiles. When 2% electric energy is saved, if battery costs decline to $250 per kilo-watt hour, Sic devices will be the only feasible approach for big battery electromobiles. However, energy saving for plug-in electric vehicles will reach 5%.

America, Japan, Britain, and some other countries have been invested in the research and development of electric and electronic devices. While China has made little breakthrough in terms of the Sic semiconductor material technologies. With the emergence of excellent Sic semiconductor material manufacturers, the situation is being solved. The prospect for Sic semiconductor technologies to be spread widely and applied is broad.