Semiconductors
applications including DC fast chargers, solar inverters, and industrial or traction drives, where low switching losses and stable on-resistance at elevated temperatures can help manage efficiency and cooling.
For teams replacing silicon IGBTs, adopting SiC does not necessarily mean increasing the switching frequency. It can be used at established operating frequencies to reduce losses and improve thermal headroom, or its lower switching losses can enable higher-frequency operation, smaller passive components and greater power density. Either approach requires the wider system design to be reassessed so that SiC’s device-level advantages translate into usable system performance.
Diodes are another point of comparison. Compared with conventional silicon diodes, SiC Schottky barrier diodes can reduce energy losses during switching as they do not store minority-carrier charge, particularly as frequency and temperature rise. Nexperia, for example, offers 650 and 1200 V devices for power-factor correction, charging, and inverter applications, where these characteristics can support higher efficiency and help reduce electrical noise. The practical value of SiC therefore lies not simply in supporting a higher voltage. It provides another way to balance sustained- load efficiency, switching performance, and thermal management in high-power designs.
GaN: the implementation route matters GaN is particularly relevant where fast switching can improve efficiency and make power conversion more compact. Nexperia’s 100 to 150 V e-mode devices address applications such as DC-DC conversion and fast charging, while its 650 to 700 V portfolio supports data centre and telecom power supplies, renewable-energy systems and industrial drives. GaN’s low switching losses can make higher-frequency operation practical, enabling smaller passive components and greater power density.
www.cieonline.co.uk
However, GaN devices do not all present the same implementation choices. Power systems generally require switches that remain off when they are not being driven. Nexperia provides this normally-off behaviour through enhancement-mode, or e-mode, devices and cascode devices. In an e-mode HEMT, the GaN structure is engineered to be normally-off. This supports low charge and fast switching but requires careful control of the gate drive and circuit layout. E-mode devices require careful gate-drive and layout design to realise their fast-switching potential. E-mode can therefore suit compact, highly optimized designs in which the device, package and surrounding circuit are developed together.
A cascode combines a normally-on depletion-mode GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) with a low-voltage silicon MOSFET to create a normally- off 650 V switch. It can use a more conventional 10 to 12 V gate drive, providing greater gate-voltage margin and a more familiar interface. This can be valuable in higher-power industrial and renewable-energy applications where robustness and compatibility with established driver approaches carry greater weight.
Offering both architectures allows engineers to select the implementation that best fits the application rather than forcing every GaN design down the same path.
Broadening possibilities
Nexperia’s 40 V bidirectional e-mode GaN devices introduce another possibility. A conventional silicon implementation typically requires two MOSFETs connected back-to-back to block current in both directions. A bidirectional GaN FET can conduct or block in either direction using a single device. That can reduce component count and footprint in battery-management systems, overvoltage protection, high-side load switching, and circuits that select between multiple power sources.
It is also important to remember that WBG technologies do not make silicon obsolete. For motor drives, industrial inverters, and other applications operating at moderate switching frequencies, silicon may still offer the appropriate combination of performance, maturity, and cost. The boundaries between SiC, GaN, and silicon are therefore overlapping rather than fixed. In some applications, more than one technology may be credible. In others, a mixed architecture may provide the most appropriate result.
Material choice is not the finish line
Engineers must look beyond the choice of SiC, GaN, or silicon and consider how device architecture, packaging, and thermal management influence real-world performance. While much of the discussion around WBG devices focuses on material properties, package selection also plays a significant role in determining efficiency, power density, thermal behaviour, and overall system performance. Nexperia WBG devices are available in a range of package formats, from compact designs that help maximise power density to industry-standard packages that can simplify system integration and qualification. Options for both top-side and bottom-side cooling provide additional flexibility, allowing thermal paths to be aligned with application requirements. In thermally demanding designs, top-side- cooled packages can enable heat to be transferred directly to a heatsink, while bottom-side-cooled approaches may be more suitable where the PCB forms part of the thermal management strategy. These packaging choices can influence not only thermal performance, but also PCB design, manufacturing processes, and long-term reliability.
This is why WBG performance cannot be assessed from the semiconductor material alone. While SiC and GaN establish the fundamental device capabilities, factors such as package design, cooling
strategy, and system-level integration ultimately determine how effectively those capabilities can be translated into practical, manufacturable performance.
Conclusion: application-aware support makes the decision more usable
The absence of a single winning material means technology selection must begin and end with the application. Engineers must define the operating envelope, mission profile, and priorities, then determine whether SiC, GaN, silicon, or a combination provides the most credible route forward. Nexperia’s breadth across silicon SiC and GaN supports this application-led approach. Engineers can assess different device architectures against their system requirements rather than treating one technology as the default. Application notes, datasheets, evaluation boards, and reference designs provide evidence and practical context for comparing device behaviour, investigating packages, testing switching performance, and reducing uncertainty during development. They do not replace system-level engineering, but they can help translate device capabilities into informed design decisions.
Engineers also need confidence that their chosen approach can be implemented, qualified and manufactured, with reliable supply throughout the product lifecycle. Application-aware guidance connects device-level evidence with the decisions shaping system performance, while remaining clear about trade-offs and limitations.
Ultimately, selecting the material is only part of the decision. SiC, GaN and silicon all have legitimate roles. The best technology is therefore not the material that wins in isolation, but the one that enables the complete power system to meet its performance, reliability and lifecycle requirements.
https://www.nexperia.com/ Components in Electronics October 2026 31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
