CoolSiC™ and major trends in SiC power device development

Silicon Carbide (SiC) diodes are already commercially available since 15 years and have gained significant market share in power supply and solar converter applications. In the last few years, the SiC device family was enriched by switches. They become increasingly more important for differentiation of power converters in size, weight and/or efficiency. The dedicated material properties of SiC enable the design of minority carrier free unipolar devices instead of the charge modulated IGBT devices. As such, they deliver highest efficiency, higher switching frequencies, reduced heat dissipation and space savings - benefits that, in turn, also lead to overall lower cost. Infineon's CoolSiC™ SiC device trademark stands not only for those outstanding properties but also come with the promise of SiC device reliability in the same range as for the traditional Si power devices. One key enabler for this is a unique asymmetric SiC trench MOSFET concept, which allows low RDS, on x A at Gate Oxide field stress in a range what is also typical for Si IGBTs. Future trends in SiC material and device development will further shrink the cost gap between Si and SiC based products, paving the way for an increasing market penetration not only in small high end market segments but also in automotive, UPS and drives applications.