Silicon Carbide Creates "Fan" for Transformation

“Can foods sold at home and abroad have more famous trademarks and independent brands; piles of paper can be transformed into high-grade prints and beautiful packaging; overwhelming fabrics can be transformed into clothing, interiors and crafts; A wide variety of metals can be processed into various special materials and metal products; chemical companies all over the country can turn to produce fine products; large-scale building materials industry can provide more high-quality flooring and advanced ceramics And sanitary ware; the auto industry with a production volume of up to 2 million can improve the proportion of mid-to-high-end passenger cars.”

On January 17, 2014, at the Third Session of the Twelfth People's Congress of Shandong Province, Guo Shuqing, deputy secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Governor of Shandong Province, used seven “cans” when talking about industrial restructuring and upgrading. The doubts expressed hope for the upgrading of traditional industries.

At present, the economic transformation is very urgent for Shandong, which has a heavy industrial structure. Traditional industries account for more than 65%, most manufacturing industries are in the middle and low-end industries, and energy and raw material industries and primary processing industries account for a high proportion. High energy consumption, heavy pollution, low added value, and short industrial chain have severely constrained the improvement of Shandong's economic competitiveness, and the seven “cannot” are undoubtedly the challenges that Shandong transition urgently needs to solve.

Innovation transformation, how to turn? Who can play the important role? Solving the propositions given by this era is the key to answering the question of "provincial governors."

Starting in a strategic emerging industry, the silicon carbide semiconductor industry can not only exert its strength in traditional fields such as electricity, steel, and petroleum, but also show off its capabilities in strategic industries such as aerospace, semiconductor lighting, and electronic products. Nowadays, the scientific research of silicon carbide, which has become increasingly popular, is on the road to industrialization and creates a “weapon” for economic transformation.

The first part, silicon carbide can change what?

A silicon carbide wafer substrate less than 0.5 mm thick can change?

"You have made amazing achievements and are leading the revolution in clean energy." This was a word that was highlighted by President Barack Obama in his speech at Career in 2011. As a global leader in silicon carbide semiconductor research and development, Cree's products have been widely used in power electronics, optoelectronics, and other fields. Whether new energy vehicles or smart grids, the country's most cutting-edge key equipment has the shadow of silicon carbide. This is the reason why Obama visited the company twice in three years to show his concern for silicon carbide. This is why the United States has used more than 10 years of continuous support to make Cree the world's largest company in the silicon carbide industry.

What is Silicon Carbide? How does it lead a clean energy revolution?

From the primitive society of slash-and-burn cultivation to the information age characterized by knowledge economy, materials are undoubtedly the “one leg” that promotes human progress.

In the last century, silicon (Si), the first semiconductor material, ignited the “star fire” in the development of the information industry, and the silicon material chip also contributed to the “U.S. Silicon Valley” high-tech industry cluster, prompting Apple, Intel, Google and other world semiconductor giants. The birth. It is no exaggeration to say that without silicon (Si) there would be no strong U.S. industry.

More than 95% of semiconductor devices and more than 99% of integrated circuits are made of silicon (Si) materials. However, in the past hundred years of baptism, once the industry's “mainstay” silicon material gradually failed to meet the requirements of high temperature, high pressure, and radiation resistance, and silicon carbide semiconductor material was the most mature after silicon (Si) and gallium arsenide (GaAs). The third generation of semiconductor materials.

As a wide bandgap semiconductor material, silicon carbide semiconductors not only have high breakdown electric field strength, good thermal stability, but also have the characteristics of high carrier saturation drift speed, high thermal conductivity, and can be used to manufacture a variety of high temperature resistant High-frequency, high-efficiency devices are used in applications where silicon devices are difficult to perform. The third generation of semiconductor materials - silicon carbide single crystal materials are widely used in power electronic devices, optoelectronic devices and other fields, in more than 50% of energy-saving effects in many strategic industries such as broadband communications, solar energy, automotive manufacturing, semiconductor lighting, smart grid and many other industries , can reduce the size of equipment by 75%!

This is just the "tip of the iceberg" of the magical effect of silicon carbide semiconductors. "Almighty" silicon carbide seems to be able to flex its muscles in a wider range of areas, such as in the national economy and the people's livelihood.

The second part, triggering the industrial revolution like the steam engine, "The historical significance of the steam engine can never be exaggerated." LS Stavrianos declared in the "General History of the World".

Before Watt improved the steam engine, the power needed for the entire production depended on human and animal power. With the invention and improvement of the steam engine, the factory was no longer built in accordance with the river or the stream. Many previously relying on human and manual work were replaced by mechanized production after the invention of the steam engine. The industrial revolution is a tremendous revolution incomparable to the general political revolution. Its influence involves all aspects of human social life. It has brought about tremendous changes in human society and has played an irreplaceable role in promoting the modernization of mankind. It has pushed humanity into a new era. Steam era.

The third-generation semiconductor materials represented by silicon carbide, etc., will play an important role in innovation in various modern industrial fields with their excellent semiconductor performance, and their application prospects and market potential are enormous. And we have seen that, as the cost of silicon carbide production is reduced, silicon carbide semiconductors are gradually replacing silicon (Si) semiconductors with their excellent properties, breaking the bottleneck encountered by silicon based on the performance of the material itself, and undoubtedly, it will trigger An industrial revolution similar to a steam engine!

Fragment One: A "Small Heart" Driving the Green Economy

What can a small semiconductor silicon carbide power device change?

It can make the petrochemical system achieve energy-saving 46%, metallurgical system energy-saving 42%, urban water supply and drainage system energy-saving 45%, chemical system energy-saving 24%.

China's current total installed capacity of wind turbines, pumps, and compressors is approximately 160 million kilowatts, and the annual power consumption is nearly 500 billion kilowatt-hour. If the adjustment method is changed, it can achieve energy savings of 10%-15%, which is approximately 50-70 billion kwh. Such amazing numbers are also attributed to semiconductor silicon carbide power devices. In high voltage applications above 5 kV, semiconductor silicon carbide power devices have applications in both switching losses and surge voltages, switching losses can be reduced by up to 92%. The semiconductor silicon carbide power device has a significant reduction in power consumption, and the heat generation of the device is greatly reduced, which further simplifies the cooling mechanism of the device, thereby greatly reducing the size and weight of the motor. At the same time, with the simplification of the motor cooling mechanism, metal materials used for the production of radiators are also relatively reduced, which will also effectively alleviate the severe situation of supply and demand for various resources such as copper, iron and petroleum.

In the future, power devices fabricated from semiconductor silicon carbide materials will support the development trend of today's energy-saving technologies and become the most essential part of energy-saving devices. Therefore, semiconductor silicon carbide power devices are also hailed by the industry as "CPU" and green of power conversion devices. Economic "core".

Fragment 2: A new energy vehicle that runs faster The new energy automotive industry requires that the semiconductor power module of the inverter (ie, motor drive) has a reliability far beyond that of common industrial inverters when dealing with high-intensity currents. In the high-current power module, with better heat dissipation, high-efficiency, fast, high-temperature, high-reliability semiconductor silicon carbide module fully meets the requirements of new energy vehicles.

The miniaturization of semiconductor silicon carbide power modules can significantly reduce the power loss of new energy vehicles, allowing them to work normally even at a high temperature of 200 degrees Celsius and further reduce the heat capacity. Lighter and smaller equipment will make the load pressure of new energy vehicles smaller, further reduce energy consumption, and promote energy conservation and environmental protection.

At present, the German Infineon Technologies develops semiconductor silicon carbide power modules for purely electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The power range is controlled at 20-80 kilowatts; the most advanced technologies such as trench gates and field stop layers are used. Reduce saturation voltage, maintain switching speed, reduce chip thickness, and increase power density. In addition, by improving the wire bonding process inside the module, the junction temperature is increased to 150 degrees Celsius or 175 degrees Celsius, which increases power cycle times, improves reliability, and greatly reduces energy consumption.

In fact, in addition to the important role of energy saving in new energy vehicles, semi-conductor silicon carbide has played an outstanding role in energy saving and environmental protection in power electronics such as high-speed rail, solar energy, wind power, power transmission, and UPS uninterruptible power supply.

Fragment 3: A longer-lived, more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly LED lighting Since the first LED was born in the early 1960s, LED has achieved red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and blue, after more than 40 years of hard work. Purple seven color LED production and application. In particular, the birth of high-brightness blue LED in 1994, opened the prelude of the semiconductor lighting (white LED) gradually replace the existing incandescent, fluorescent as a general lighting source, led to another revolution in the lighting industry.