"Spring" of the third generation semiconductor for new energy vehicles and 5G mobile phones

With the characteristics of thermal conductivity, high electron density and high mobility, it is known as the "core" of solid-state light sources, power electronics, microwave RF devices and the "new engine" of optoelectronics and microelectronics industries. At present, SiC and GaN are the best developed wide band gap semiconductors.

According to the report of IHS IMS Research, the emerging SiC and GaN power semiconductor market will grow steadily at a rate of 18% in the next decade, driven by the demand of power supply, solar photovoltaic (PV) inverter and industrial motor. It is estimated that the global sales of SiC and GaN power components will increase significantly from $143 million in 2012 to $2.8 billion by 2022.

Because electric vehicles and automatic driving are the two driving factors driving the automobile market forward. There are three major applications related to power supply in automobiles, namely charger, DC-DC converter and traction inverter. Among the three major applications, the traction inverter can benefit most from GaN and SiC technologies so far. Because the use of GaN and SiC devices can reduce the weight of the car, improve energy efficiency, enable electric vehicles to travel longer distances, and use smaller batteries and cooling systems.

Driven by the development of new energy electric vehicles in recent years, the demand for SiC power devices is increasing rapidly. According to Yole‘s statistics, the SiC power device business reached US $302 million in 2017, an increase of 22% over US $248 million in 2016. Tesla Model 3, which uses SiC MOSFET modules, has achieved capacity growth. Yole estimates that the SiC power semiconductor market will reach US $1.5 billion by 2023.