news digest ♦ Power Electronics
of the devices were tested up to 50 consecutive hits with no failures. The die temperature increases to high values during surge events, but the unique material properties of SiC (~1.5 times the thermal conductivity of silicon and 17 times lower intrinsic carrier concentration) allows the device to operate without causing thermal runaway even under extreme ambient conditions (>200degC), which would simply not be possible in silicon.
A validation of these facts are the results from long term HTRB tests that have shown no degradation in the leakage current or breakdown voltage at 225degC after over 8000 hours of stress.
This is the first known wide bandgap transient suppressor device that has successfully undergone surge testing not just in terms of high current densities (which can be achieved through small devices), but also high absolute values of current (~3kA with an 8µs/20µs surge waveform), clearly establishing that the GE design can be scaled to large area die with no apparent current sharing shortcomings.
This work will be presented at the IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications to be held at Knoxville, TN in Oct. 2014.
(AWS) spectrum emerge in advanced handsets in the marketplace.
While industrialised countries are using 3G networks, today’s world is a mixture of 2/2.5G and 3G networks, the heavy majority of subscribers are actually on 2G-based networks - and predicted to remain so for a number of years.
Between 70 to 80 percent of Skyworks’ and RF Micro Device’s GaAs business is in PAs. 2G handsets contain one PA, so it represents a sizable market. Because they aren’t as technologically advanced as 3G cell phones, particularly smartphones, silicon is making inroads in the GaAs domain. For 2013, only 90 percent of PAs were made in GaAs, 5 percent in silicon CMOS, and 5 percent in silicon LDMOS.
This report, available from Reportbuyer. com, investigates the technology trends, applications, and market developments of GaAs ICs. US Japanese, and European applications such as telecom, computers, defense, consumers, are also reviewed.
SiC to replace silicon power
GaAs IC Market to reach $8 billion in 2017 PA pricing to increase to $3.50 with LTE and AWS
A new market research report ‘The GaAs IC Market’ by Information Network forecasts that the GaAs IC market will reach $8 billion in 2017.
The most important driver of the GaAs RF IC market is power amplifiers (PAs) and switches in the front-end of the handsets. 3G handsets often contain up to five PAs, and GaAs makes up 100 percent of the market, which is close to $5 billion.
According to the report, the number of PAs per handset is growing because of: complex 3G systems, global roaming support, and data roaming support. Pricing for PAs has increased from $0.80 per handset to $2.90 currently and is projected to increase to greater than $3.50 once Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced Wireless Services
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net Issue VI 2014
devices in cars by 2020 Wide bandgap materials key to cutting battery costs
Wide bandgap materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride are best positioned to address emerging power electronics performance needs in electric vehicles (EVs), with SiC displacing silicon as early as 2020, according to a new report by Lux Research.
As silicon struggles to meet higher performance standards, wide bandgap (WBG) materials are benefiting from evolving battery economics. On a Tesla Model S car, for example, a 20 percent power
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