New Material Device Technology

Our challenge in the 21st century is to meet two important goals. First, we must provide energy saving solutions that take into account the environment, and second, we must maintain the economical viability of our products in consideration of the above. The improvement of energy efficiency is the bedrock for sustainable development. Silicon devices will soon approach their theoretical limit with respect to improvements in microtechnology. One way to keep progressing near the theoretical limit is to exploit new materials such as the SiC, and GaAs. Here, we would like to introduce the desirable characteristics of SiC as a new material.

The dielectric breakdown field of an SiC device is about 10 times that of an Si device.

"N-DRIFTLAYER" (N-layer) thickness of Si device can be reduced to about 1/10 of the size of an SiC device.

Features

The dielectric breakdown field strength of an SiC device is about 10 times that of an Si device. Therefore, the thickness of a wafer required for maintaining electrical integrity can be reduced to about 1/10 of that required by conventional technology, while the total loss expected would be approximately 1/100 theoretically. It is also possible to extend the range of operation by several times that of an Si device in high temperature conditions. Such device technology serves to push equipment design technology for power transfer equipment to the next level.