Further Growth Opportunities for SiC in New Application Fields

SiC based power semiconductors are meanwhile established elements in the library of engineers designing power conversion circuits. Beyond the classical range of applications, the features delivered by the state of the are solid state components open up new areas for the utilization of semiconductor-based elements. Prominent examples are circuit breakers especially for DC based networks and solid-state transformers which eventually leave their status of being just an academic passion. This is mostly driven by the fact that the whole network of electrical energy is facing a transition from simple unidirectional flows towards intelligent multidirectional energy flows and the growing trend of using more efficient DC networks. Especially the new architectures of high-performance (AI) data center power supplies will drive this transformation. In this field, due to the outstanding features of the new components also a leapfrog in system performance is enabled. Key benefits like loss and material saving as well as replacement of outdated electromechanical solutions are just a few examples. Finally, the importance of suitable package technologies for the success of wide band gap power devices will be highlighted.