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Mitsubishi Electric Develops SiC Power Device with Record Power EfficiencyMitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503) announced that it has developed a silicon carbide (SiC) power device with what is believed to be the world's highest power efficiency in a device of its type. The newly-developed unit is designed to be installed in power modules, and does not require a high-speed protection circuit to interrupt supply when excess current is detected. The new device will help improve the reliability and energy efficiency of power electronics equipment used in a wide range of applications such as home electronics, industrial machinery and railway operation. Mitsubishi (News - Alert) Electric's development of the new SiC device was first revealed at the 2017 International Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materals (ICSCRM 2017), held in Washington, D.C., September 17-22, 2017. The superior reliability and efficiency of the new device is the result of a new proprietary source structure. In conventional metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, known as MOSFETs, the source area is formed as a single region. However, Mitsubishi Electric has introduced an additional region in the source area to control the source series resistance of the SiC-MOSFET. Adopting this structure reduces the incidence of excessive current flows caused by short circuits. As a result, on the general short-circuit time used for Si power semiconductor devices, the on-resistance of the SiC-MOSFET is reduced by 40 percent at room temperature, and power loss by more than 20 percent, compared to conventional SiC-MOSFET devices. A simplified circuit design allows the technology to be applied across SiC-MOSFETs with various voltage ratings. Tried and tested circuit technology is used to protect silicon components from damage in the event of short-circuits, and can be applied to existing SiC-MOSFETs without any need for modification. This guarantees easy implementation of protective functionality in power electronics equipment using SiC-MOSFETs. For the full text, please visit: www.MitsubishiElectric.com/news/
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