Already one of the most trusted names in silicon power components, Littelfuse is at the head of the pack for power conversion solutions with its SiC Schottky diode technology.
As purely silicon-based power components reach their theoretical limits, many industrial companies are looking for new technologies that can meet today’s demands for higher performance. Current industrial power conversion standards require increased efficiency, power density, higher power handling capacity, and a wider operating temperature range. Enter the MPS (merged-PN Schottky) technology, a Silicon Carbide (SiC) diode structure poised to revolutionize the silicon semiconductor industry with its superior electrical, mechanical, and thermal benefits. With global electric power consumption trending consistently upwards each decade, dramatic increases in power efficiency represent a significant opportunity. Developed with efficiency in mind, SiC power devices are expected to reduce electrical energy losses in the power industry by a factor of 100.
Thanks to its near-zero reverse recovery capabilities, the MPS SiC Schottky diode dramatically increases system efficiency and robustness. These enhancements have been realized in industrial power supply, solar, EV/HEV, industrial drives, and welding and plasma cutting markets where its ability to handle high-frequency power switching with negligible losses, enhanced surge capability and extremely low leakage – along with its reduced thermal management requirements – differentiate customers’ solutions from the mainstream.
Technology Breakdown
Silicon carbide’s wide band gap allows superior performance characteristics in comparison to conventional silicon. For a similar breakdown voltage, power devices based on SiC have far lower switching losses by virtue of near-zero reverse recovery, as well as a higher maximum junction temperature. These characteristics equate to high-efficiency power conversion with a substantially reduced need for cooling, which has resulted in smaller, lighter systems.
SOURCE: LITTELFUSE
The benefits of Littelfuse’s development efforts are clear. The new LFUSCD Series of SiC Schottky Diodes improves performance appreciably:
• Suitable for high-frequency power switching; negligible switching losses; reduced stress on the opposing switch
• Larger design margin and relaxed thermal management requirements
• Enhanced surge capability and extremely low leakage
Littelfuse Takes the Lead in SiC
With a legacy of innovation, proven technical expertise, and the industry’s broadest and deepest portfolio of circuit protection products, Littelfuse has provided objective, comprehensive electrical energy solutions for over 90 years.
Already one of the most trusted names in silicon power components, Littelfuse is once again at the head of the pack for power conversion solutions with its SiC Schottky diode technology. Littelfuse’s SiC power semiconductors dramatically improve application performance, making devices more compact, lighter, and more efficient. Offered in voltage classes of 650 V or 1200 V with current ratings from 4 A to 30 A and two-lead (TO-220) or three-lead (TO-247) packages, Littelfuse’s LFUSCD Series Silicon Carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes are ideal in the following applications:
• Power factor correction (PFC)
• Buck or boost stages in DC-DC converters
• Free-wheeling diodes in inverter stages (switch-mode power supplies, solar inverters, UPSs, industrial drives)
• High-frequency output rectification
The Future of SiC is Right Now
The real beauty of materials engineering lies in its dynamic and restless need for advancement. Reaching the next level is not an end game. Every advance in technology is the spark for the next evolution. For SiC, its material properties and technological maturity situate it as the next disruption in power semiconductors. As existing energy technologies advance, so does the need for high-power, low-loss, fast-switching power devices that reduce system complexity and production cost. SiC meets this demand with its unconstrained dynamic behavior—i.e. its ability to reduce switching loses and filtering efforts independent of the limitations of other components—that reduces cost and size while increasing efficiency. The value SiC adds to your devices is immediately identifiable.
We Aren’t All Aerospace Engineers
While SiC proves its potential to enhance power applications at commanding levels, most of us are mere mortals, working on designs that will enhance our daily lives here on Earth. Littelfuse understands that, and they have taken the lead in making SiC technology more accessible by increasing their SiC offerings and making SiC technology the go-to solution for high-demand energy applications.
To date, the biggest challenge next to making SiC more widely available and affordable has been a lack of overall familiarity in the engineering community. As SiC makes its way into server power supplies, power conditioners, solar panels, battery charging systems, and inverters, power device designers will not be long for seeing the enormous potential of the technology.