SiC Technology : 15 years at the cutting edge
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SiC Technology: 15 years at the cutting edge Miquel Gonzalez Engineering Manager - Premium PSU At Premium we always strive for designs that make a difference. Investing in technology and know-how is what sets us apart when developing compact and reliable high power devices. In this article, we share our 15 year experience using SiC technology and what differences it makes compared to other technologies used in the market. The effect SiC technology has in performance and size of our products is what makes it an essential in our designs.

Almost 15 years have gone by, but we perfectly remember an email asking about a 1200V Schottky diode made out of a new material called Silicon Carbide (SiC) for one of our power supplies projects. Unfortunately, the answer at that moment was that there was no distributor in Europe that could supply that component. Premium was possibly the first Spanish company and one of the first in Europe to be interested in this new technology. After many inquiries, it was possible to find a supplier in the USA (at a 40€ cost) and finish the project. Thanks to the use of this new technology, we managed...

These properties allow for a better features device design: SiC Diodes SiC diodes have a very small Reverse Recovery Effect, which reduces the switching losses, allowing to: Increase efficiency vs. design with Si diodes (if the same fs or switching frequency of the equipment is maintained) Increase the power density vs. design with Si diodes (if the same efficiency is maintained), as the equipment’s fs can be increased while reducing the size of inductive components SiC MOSFETs have the following advantages: A huge reduction in the specified ON-Resistance for applications over 900V, which...

A tremendous reduction in internal capacitance: The Reverse capacitance (Cgd) is almost non-existent An extremely high switching speed is possible Again, it allows: Improving efficiency vs. Si MOSFET design (same fs.) Reducing size and weight vs Si MOSFET design (increasing fs.) Intrinsic Properties Device Performance System Benefits High Current Density High Temp Operation Fast Switching Size/Weight Reduction Reduced Losses 3x Thermal Conductivity 10x Higher Breakdown Field Furthermore, these semiconductors that enable faster switching require expert designers. This is because of parasitic...

We are proud to be one of the first power supplies manufacturers in the world to use TO-247 1200V packaged SiC MOSFET in our designs. This new MOSFET, with a channel resistance of only 9mΩ, is absolutely revolutionary and somewhat unimaginable a few years ago, just like the first diode was 15 years ago. Again, at Premium we are at the cutting edge of SiC Technology, and this is one of the things that make our designs unique. #WEAREPREMIUM Premium is one of the largest power supply companies in Europe, offering solutions to the industrial market being some of them in hightech machinery,...