Monolith Semiconductor Inc of Round Rock, TX, USA has announced the availability of engineering samples of 1200V, 5A and 10A silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes in a TO-220 package.
Manufactured in the 150mm SiC foundry of X-FAB Texas, the SiC diodes feature zero reverse recovery current and what is claimed to be superior avalanche ruggedness, excellent surge current capability and low leakage currents at high temperatures. Monolith says that its collaboration with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Power America (the Next Generation Power Electronics National Manufacturing Innovation Institute, led by North Carolina State University) has been key in achieving manufacturing of the SiC devices.
"While the benefits of SiC devices in improving the efficiency and reducing the size, weight and volume of power electronic systems is well known, the adoption has been slow due to the high cost of these devices," says Monolith's CEO Dr Sujit Banerjee. "Manufacturing these SiC diodes in a high-volume silicon manufacturing facility will enable us to provide cost-effective, high-performance and high-reliability SiC devices," he adds.
"The superior switching performance of these diodes will reduce losses by over 50% compared to silicon diodes, resulting in higher energy efficiency in power electronic applications such as solar inverters, motor drives and power supplies," says Dr Kiran Chatty, VP of Product Development.
