There has been a notable increase in the developpment of Silicon Carbide semiconductor materials (SiC) in the past few years. It seems we are now close to a massive use of those new solutions, made possible by the considerable number of peoples working on the subject and price drop down.
The adoption of SiC solutions are mainly driven by two factors : the miniaturization and the efficiency.
Silicon Carbide based devices are a very promising answer to the market pressure on power converters compactness and efficiency. The lower maximum junction temperature, allow higher density of power on the semiconductors, wich leads to decrease the size of the cooling components. Nevertheless, this positive effect is also making the thermal management challenge harder. Water cooled and heat pipes solutions are now commonly considered by power electronics engineers
see cougar electronics solutions for thermal management
SiC are also well known for their capacity to work at higher frequency than classical silicon based MOSFETs and IGBTs. The magnetics components size like inductors, and transformers is mainly linked to the frequency. In this way, increasing the frequency of the device drastically allow to reduce the size and thus the weight of the magnetics components.
SiC technology has been massively adopted by early adopter applications like Solar Inverter and UPS. The adoption of this new technology is slower in the high power industry like motor drives, tractions and electrical grid converters due to the reluctance in the use of new material.
The market of high power Silicon Carbide semiconductors is mainly holded by niche players, that were pioneers in their field. Most of the big semiconductor manufacturers are releasing or close to release new range of devices that will trigger the signal of a massive adoption.
Contact COUGAR ELECTRONICS for advises and availablity of your semi-conductor.
Other links : IEEE article about SiC