Recent progress of SiC power devices and applications

Abstract

Devices made of the wide‐bandgap semiconductor silicon carbide are capable of not only providing excellent performance for higher voltages, higher switching frequencies, higher junction temperatures, and higher power than silicon devices, but also leading to drastic reduction in system complexity, volume, and weight, as well as higher efficiency and better reliability of power electronics systems. The newly emerged technology has made rapid progress during the past decade, and we can expect even greater advantages and potential for energy savings and emission reduction in the coming years. In this paper, the research on SiC material and device technologies, the benefits, and some remaining issues are discussed. Recent progress (since 2007) in applications such as DC–DC, AC–DC, DC–AC, and AC–AC converters is discussed. Also, future applications and perspectives are analyzed. © 2013 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Construction and characterization of spherical Si solar cells combined with SiC electric power inverter

“…In addition, the SiC device has higher efficiencies for high power switching devices, which can operate at higher temperatures of ~600 °C without much change in their electrical properties compared with the Si devices (~200 °C). The SiC devices are one of the leading candidates of next generation power devices [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

Dependence of electric power flow on solar radiation power in compact photovoltaic system containing SiC-based inverter with spherical Si solar cells

“…After the reports on photovoltaic (PV) inverter equipped with SiC diodes [4] and SiC transistors [5], many works have been reported for the SiC power converters [6,7,8]. Interleaved direct current (DC)-DC converters built with SiC bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) were reported [9,10].…”

A Transportable Photovoltaic Power Generation System Utilizing a SiC Inverter and Spherical Si Solar Cells

“…Since the first photovoltaic (PV) inverter using SiC diodes by Phlippen and Burger [4] and that using SiC transistors by Stalter et al [5], there have been considerable reports on the applications of SiC devices on power converters [6][7][8]. Concerning direct current (DC)-DC converters, interleaved boost converters built with SiC bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) were presented in [9] and [10], respectively.…”