Mitsubishi Electric Develops SiC Power Device with Record Power Efficiency
September 21 2017 - 9:10PM
Business Wire
Will help improve the reliability and energy
efficiency of power electronics equipment used in fields ranging
from home electronics to industrial machinery
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503) announced that it
has developed a silicon carbide (SiC) power device with what is
believed to be the world’s highest power efficiency in a device of
its type. The newly-developed unit is designed to be installed in
power modules, and does not require a high-speed protection circuit
to interrupt supply when excess current is detected. The new device
will help improve the reliability and energy efficiency of power
electronics equipment used in a wide range of applications such as
home electronics, industrial machinery and railway operation.
Mitsubishi Electric’s development of the new SiC device was
first revealed at the 2017 International Conference on Silicon
Carbide and Related Materials (ICSCRM 2017), held in Washington,
D.C., September 17–22, 2017.
The superior reliability and efficiency of the new device is the
result of a new proprietary source structure. In conventional
metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, known as
MOSFETs, the source area is formed as a single region. However,
Mitsubishi Electric has introduced an additional region in the
source area to control the source series resistance of the
SiC-MOSFET. Adopting this structure reduces the incidence of
excessive current flows caused by short circuits. As a result, on
the general short-circuit time used for Si power semiconductor
devices, the on-resistance of the SiC-MOSFET is reduced by 40
percent at room temperature, and power loss by more than 20
percent, compared to conventional SiC-MOSFET devices.
A simplified circuit design allows the technology to be applied
across SiC-MOSFETs with various voltage ratings. Tried and tested
circuit technology is used to protect silicon components from
damage in the event of short-circuits, and can be applied to
existing SiC-MOSFETs without any need for modification. This
guarantees easy implementation of protective functionality in power
electronics equipment using SiC-MOSFETs.
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