The Era of Silicon Carbide Semiconductor to Come

With the rapid development of electronic products, conventional silicon carbide semiconductor and gallium arsenide can not meet the demand for high temperature, thermal conductivity and radiation resistance. Silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride as representatives of broadband gap semiconductor material with its forbidden band width, high breakdown voltage, large thermal conductivity, high electron saturation drift velocity, small dielectric constant, strong ability to resist radiation and good chemical stability, etc., make it popular with the photoelectric device and high-frequency high power devices. Therefore, it is known as the third generation of semiconductor material with broad prospects.

Especially silicon carbide device, it can work under the environment of high temperature of 200 degrees Celsius. Compared with IGBT and silicon devices, the silicon carbide device has higher current density and lower power loss. It also can improve the power conversion efficiency and is expected to be the replacement of silicon in the field of power device in the future. The era of silicon carbide semiconductor has come.

The reason that silicon carbide is not widely used in the industry mainly lies in the difficult and high cost for the preparation of single crystal. With the constantly breakthrough and development of Single crystal growth technology and membrane technology, USA Cree (Cree) has always prepared the chip with 6.0 inches, and in 2016 it is expected to rise to 8.0 inches. And at present, the most advanced technology in our country has achieved 4.0 inches.

New applications of silicon carbide device will be mainly concentrated in the LED, new energy vehicles, rail transportation, smart grid, etc. IHSIMS predicts that the average growth rate of SiC and GaN semiconductor market will reach 18% in the next 10 years; Yole Developpement is more optimistic for SiC device market, predicting that it will maintain 38% annual growth rate.

As the international electronics industry continues to shift to domestic, semiconductor technology has been gradually improved in China, the growth of the industry facing larger space. But the concentration of discrete device is low, and there are many small scale of enterprises. As the capital market matures, horizontal mergers and acquisitions in the industry will usher in a climax.