1. The Development of SiC Technology and Its Application in the Power Grid
Prof. YU Kunshan
Smart Grid Research Institute of SG
Department of Electrician New Material and Microelectronics
2012.9
Shanghai

2. Outline Introduction Characteristics and Advantages Latest Progress1
Introduction 2
Characteristics and Advantages 3
Latest Progress 4
Application 5
Key Technologies 6
Prospect Application of Power Grid 7
Conclusion 2

3. 1 Introduction The requirements of power devices in power grid:
Power device is widely used in transportation, iron and steel smelting, motor drives and power systems.
It is indispensable in the development of low-carbon economy, energy conservation, control field warming .
The requirements of power devices in power grid:
High operating voltage
High power density
High junction and Operating Temperature
High power capacity
High switching frequency
Low losses
Easy Control
Silicon power devices determined by the material properties is closed to the performance limit. 3

4. 1 Introduction Typical applications of power devices in power grid.
STATCOM
DVR
Inverter
LCC-HVDC
VSC-HVDC
Multi-HVDC 4

5. AC transmission technology
1 Introduction
The demand of power devices in power grid.
AC transmission technology
Demand
Domestic thyristor-based FACTS equipment has developed, such as: SC, HR, FCL, SVC.
Higher voltage, Greater capacity.
The relevant demonstration studies based on Turn-off devices FACTS equipment have been carried out ， such as：STATCOM, UPFC.
Higher voltage, better performance of series and parallel.
Domestic Turn-off devices -based DFACTs equipment has developed， such as：DVR，SSTS，DSTATCOM， APF.
Greater flow capacity, More cooling capacity.
More Efficiency FACTS or DFACTs， such as：TCPST, CSC, SST.
Research and integrated of power electronic devices based on new materials. 5

6. DC transmission technology
1 Introduction
The demand of power devices in power grid
DC transmission technology
Demand
HVDC technology based on thyristor has developed and the capacity is growing.
R&D of thyristor based on new material(SiC)
VSC-HVDC technology has been carried out.
Presspack IGBT
More compact, more efficient HVDC and DC grid technology.
Research and integrated of power electronic devices based on new materials 6

7. 2 Characteristics and Advantages
Outstanding advantages of silicon carbide power devices.
The critical avalanche breakdown electric field intensity is 10 times that of silicon.
High Voltage
Current density
The current density can reach 4 times that of the Si.
The thermal conductivity is three times that of silicon, can work properly at 300 ℃.
The temperature coefficient is close to zero.
High Temperature
Switch much faster than silicon devices, reducing the switching losses.
Conduction resistance of several tenth of the equivalent silicon devices, reducing conduction losses and the total energy consumption can be reduced more than 30%.
Low Loss
SiC is suitable for the power electronic devices with high-power, high temperature and anti-radiation. 7

8. 2 Characteristics and Advantages
The thickness of Si, SiC, GaN, and Diamond withstand 10kV voltage.
Use of silicon carbide, the thickness of the device is reduced to silicon’s 1/10. Si
GaN
SiC
Diamond 8

9. 2 Characteristics and Advantages
Characteristics of the power devices based on SiC and diamond material.
Wide Band gap
High Temperatures
High breakdown electric field
High Voltage
High carrier drift velocity
High Frequency
High thermal conductivity
Low Loss
GaN thermal conductivity is not high enough , have advantages in terms of high-frequency；
Diamond preparation is very difficult, the processing technology is restricted ；
SiC power devices fastest growing in high voltage power device. 9

10. The Type of SiC Power Devices
3 Latest Progress
The Type of SiC Power Devices
SBD、JBS
Switch
Bipolar diodes
IGBT
SiC power device
Rectifier
PIN
Unipolar transistors
Bipolar transistor
MOSFET
JFET
BJT,GTO 10

11. 3 Latest Progress SiC Power Devices Manufacturers Schottky diodes
IGBT/Thyristor
Cree
PiN/JBS diodes
Cree
Schottky diodes
Infineon/SiCED
Mitsubishi
Rohm
Semisouth IR
STMicroelectronics …
MOSFET
Before 2011
Cree
Fairchild
Mitsubishi
Philips
Rohm GE …
SiC devices
JFET/SIT
Cree
Semisouth
Infineon/SiCED
Hitachi
Toshiba …
BJT
TranSiC
Cree …
The CREE prepared 20kV devices , low-voltage devices
have entered the market. 11

12. SiC Power device parameters
3 Latest Progress
SiC Power device parameters
One-to-one correspondence with the silicon-based devices, a variety of silicon carbide devices have been developed in the lab.
1700V, 50A SiC SBD has been commercialized.
1700V, 50A SiC MOSFET has been commercialized.
Schottky diodes
1300A/5000V
10kV
PIN
diodes
180A/4.5kV
19.5kV
POWER MOSFET
100A/10kV
thyristor
100A/5kV
GTO
100A/9kV
IGCT
200A/4.5kV
IGBT
13kV
MOSFET
GTO 12

13. Schematic diagram of SiC SBD
3 Latest Progress
1、SiC SBD
Schematic diagram of SiC SBD
Cree－1200V/50A SiC SBD 13

14. 3 Latest Progress 2、SiC JBS
Cree 10kV 20A SiC 模块
Large wafers, big chip, acceptable yield
Cree has producted 10kV/20A JBS diode on 3-inch wafer. Chip area is ​​15mm x 11mm, yield is 37%. 14

15. 3 Latest Progress 3、SiC PiN Diode
The left shows Cree product a 10kV/20A PIN diode on 2-inch wafer , the yield reached 40%. Right is a PiN diode with positive 3.2V/180A, reverse leakage 1μA/4.5KV. 15

16. 4、SiC BJT Bipolar Transistor
3 Latest Progress
4、SiC BJT Bipolar Transistor
TranSiC V/20A BJT .
Rutgers University producted 1kV/20A BJT on 2-inch wafer 。
SiC BJT switching quickly , can work at 100kHz. The process is relatively simple, relatively high yield. 16

17. 3 Latest Progress 5、SiC MOSFET
Cree produced a 10kV/20A MOSFET on a 3-inch wafer. The area of ​​ the chip is more than 8mm x 8mm. 17

18. 3.4 SiC JFET 3 Latest Progress 6、SiC JFET
2009, SiC JFET products to market 18

19. 3 Latest Progress 7、SiC IGBT
Cree Inc. reported a silicon carbide n-channel IGBT with 22mΩcm2 characterized resistance and reverse voltage of 13kV, about 10 times lower than 13kV silicon carbide unipolar devices. 19

20. 3 Latest Progress 8、SiC Thyristor
In 2009, Cree reported a silicon carbide GTO， N- Substrate
Cree 9kV GTO， Single-chip current 400A 20

21. 3 Latest Progress 9、Si IGBT and SiC JBS Hybrid modules
55kW three-phase Inverters used 600V/600A IGBT and 600V/75A SiC SBD, the efficiency is more than 90% . The loss of reverse is substantial decline at the peak power 47kW. 21

22. 3 Latest Progress 10、all SiC MOSFET and JBS Hybrid modules
A 1200V 800A SiC dual power module for DC / AC inverter circuit is composed by 20 80A SiC MOSFETs and 20 50A SiC JBS, the inverter loss is 40% less than that of Si hybrid modules, up to 97.5%.Switching frequency to four times higher. 22

23. 3 Latest Progress Domestic Research
Domestic：urgent needs to enhance the research level of SiC power device
Compared to other countries, SiC is a comprehensive study of the late start has become a hot topic in recent years.
Although having the basic process and the foundation of high- voltage device, there is a large gap from us to foreign advanced level. 23

24. The problems in domestic
3 Latest Progress
The problems in domestic
The leading R&D Department is military, major in radar and microwave devices. The R&D of power electronic devices efforts does not match the user demand.
Foreign SiC substrate material is costly, Domestic SiC substrate material lack of quality and stability .
The requirement of devices processing is strict.
There is no civilian device process line here in China. 24

25. Efficient compact power
4 Application
Efficient compact power
Widely uesed in household appliances, office equipment, power management and UPS
Schottky diode has went into the civilian market;
Kansai Electric Power Company for wind, solar inverter,
Mitsubishi Electric for silicon carbide inverter air conditioner ,
The conversion efficiency can be increased from 95% of the silicon device to 97-99%.

26. Automotive electronics
4 Application
Automotive electronics
Toyota hybrid electric vehicles have been used in motor control, and higher breakdown voltage, less open resistance value rate, 600 °C high temperature operation, improve power conversion performance of hybrid electrical power automotive. 26

27. Military applications
Reduce ship weight
Aircraft carrier CVN-78
1、 Aircraft launching system using the new technology of silicon carbide power .
2、SiC-based high frequency power electronic module, the volume and weight of the transformer is less than half the volume and weight reduction can be a better configuration of the other tasks sensor systems, weapons and other equipment.
Reduce the total weight of the aircraft carrier 170 tons, the volume is reduced by 290 m3 . 27

28. Military applications
More Electric Aircraft MEA
MEA aircraft needs high efficiency and high temperature transistor, SiC power device for energy efficiency helps to develop more small, more light and faster aircraft . 28

29. 4 Application
Three-phase PV inverter efficiency 29

30. 5 Key Technologies Large size, low defect SiC single crystal
technology.
Fast, low defects, extra-thick epitaxial material growth technology.
High-voltage SiC technology. 30

31. 5 Key Technologies Technology of the fabrication No. Name Device
Requirement 1
Fast and ultra thick
epitaxial technology
CVD Epitaxial furnace
thickness more than 100um 2
High activation rate ion implantation technology
High temperature high-energy ion injection machine
800keV,400℃ 3
High temperature annealing technology
High temperature annealing furnace
1600℃ 4
High temperature oxidation technology
High temperature oxidation furnace
1400℃ 31

32. Peripheral technology
5 Key Technologies
Development goals
Achieve 6 inches wafer and above.
Get rid of the dependence .
The price of unit area has down to 1/10.
Rectifier change to large current (above 100A).
Improve the characteristics.
Mass Production .
Breakthrough the limit of packaging temperature
The control circuit and the peripheral devices
Improve the controlling method.
The new noise reduction strategy .
SiC wafer
SiC device
Peripheral technology

33. Progresses in the development of device
5 Key Technologies
10kV MOSFET、IGBT
Progresses in the development of device
10kV SiC PIN
6500V MOSFET
1200V – 6500V Si &SiC Hybrid model
6500V PiN
4500V MOSFET
4500V JBS
3300V MOSFET
3300V JBS
Future Prospects
1500V MOSFET
1200V SBD
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016 33

34. 6 Prospect Application of Power Grid
Significant demand for grid
Transmission system
Improve safety and reliability
Increase transmission capacity
Improve transmission efficiency
Maximize the access to renewable energy to Power system
Distribution system
Improve the security, reliability and economy value
Improve the performance of electrical equipment
Improve energy efficiency
SiC power device will provide a efficient solution 34

35. Electronics technologies used in renewable generation
Decreases loss:2/3，Increase generating capacity:2-3 % 35

36. 6 Prospect Application of Power Grid
Key Technologies of DC
SiC device（ High voltage 30kV 、large capacity 3000A） 1 2
By using SiC power devices, an all-DC power grid will be established eventurally 5
DC circuit breaker
DC cable 3 4
VSC- DC Grid
measurement, control and protection in DC 36

37. 7 Conclusion
Experts concerned the excellent performance of SiC power devices. It need to make more mature development of diverse applications.
SiC power devices will drive the generation, transmission, and distribution with technological progress.
The new SiC power devices used in various types of grid and electric equipment, it makes the possibility that the electric equipment can be attached power quality control ability. This feature will change the pattern of power quality control technology . 37

38. Thank You ! 38