Panasonic Corp of Osaka, Japan and Osaka-based Sansha Electric Manufacturing Co Ltd have developed a compact silicon carbide (SiC) power module, together with highly efficient operation of power switching systems. The module is said to have good reliability and helps to reduce the size of power switching systems such as industrial inverters and power supplies.
Picture: The SiC power module.
Due to its superior material properties, SiC is expected to reduce the power consumption of various switching systems. The high-power switching devices need to be packaged into a power module integrating multiple transistors. The new SiC power module that has been developed is based on the following proprietary technologies:
Panasonic's SiC DioMOS (diode-integrated MOSFET) has the features of a reverse conducting diode without any external diode. The total SiC chip area is reckoned to be halved from that of a conventional SiC chip, helping to reduce the total footprint of the module. The improved design of the DioMOS structure also reduces on-state resistance to 6mΩ at 150A. Sansha Electric's Techno Block module technologies utilize solder bonding for the SiC chips without any wire bonding. This configuration halves the height of the module and yields three times better endurance in power cycling tests, it is reckoned.
The new SiC power module integrates two SiC transistors into one package and achieves 6mΩ of on-state resistance with a rating current/voltage of 150A/1200V. The module's total volume is reduced by a third compared with a conventional SiC power module, it is claimed. These features, together with good reliability, enable very compact and highly efficient power switching systems, Pansonic adds.
The R&D results will be presented at the 30th IEEE Applied Power Electrics Conference (APEC 2015) in Charlotte, NC, USA (15-19 March).
