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Power SiC 2019 Materials, Devices, and Applications

By：Jasencan

Time：2020.08.25

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Driven by the electric vehicle (EV) market, the SiC power device market is rising

According to Memes Consulting, due to Tesla's use of SiC devices in its main inverters, the SiC power device market has attracted widespread attention from 2018 to 2019. Whether other automakers will follow up and apply SiC devices has become a hot topic this year. In recent years, the automotive industry has invested more than US$300 billion in the development of various electric vehicles (xEV), which has promoted the explosion of the xEV market. This is in sharp contrast to the traditional internal combustion engine vehicle market, which is experiencing an unprecedented slowdown in growth. The xEV market is the main market driving factor for silicon (Si) power devices. It is not surprising that it is the source of excitement in the SiC market.
 

However, as far as the SiC application market in the xEV field is concerned, industry manufacturers have different expectations, some are conservative and some are very optimistic. As for the market size in 2025, industry manufacturers' forecasts range from hundreds of millions of dollars to billions of dollars. According to STMicroelectronics, the market will grow to 3 billion dollars in 2025. Everyone agrees that EV is the most potential market, but there are different opinions on how it will develop and how SiC will penetrate the automotive market. These market forecasts are based on the data collected by each manufacturer and their interpretation of the data.


                                      SiC power device development timeline

Through in-depth exchanges with industry vendors, Yole saw the booming SiC power device market. Yole predicts that by 2024, the SiC power semiconductor market will grow to $2 billion, and the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during 2018-2024 will be as high as 29%. Among them, the automotive market is undoubtedly the most important driving factor, and its SiC power semiconductor market share is expected to reach 50% by 2024.

                                                 Power SiC product advantages

This report covers various SiC power device markets, including pure electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles (EV/HEV), charging infrastructure, photovoltaics (PV), power supply, railways, motor drives, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and wind power, It also includes Yole's analysis and insights on SiC applications.

             2018~2024 SiC market development forecast in the automotive sector

Automotive market growth is reshaping the SiC market and its ecology
 

In the silicon (Si) power field, power modules are often used in high-power rated applications (such as EV main inverters and railway applications), while discrete modules are often used in low-power rated applications. As shown in the figure below, some manufacturers such as Infineon have both discrete devices and modules, while other manufacturers such as Danfoss and Semikron are pure module packagers. There are also some discrete device packagers, including a number of outsourced semiconductor packaging and testing vendors (OSAT).


       Discrete Power Devices vs. Power Modules: Overview of Package Manufacturers

As with silicon insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), for SiC, we hope that modules will also play a key role. But what form will the full SiC module take? Although some manufacturers have adopted standard silicon packages, most manufacturers have developed their own SiC modules. For example, the SiC device used by Tesla: Depending on the object, it can be a very small module or an advanced discrete device.
 
It is understood that Tesla has successfully built a SiC supply chain with independent intellectual property rights for module design through cooperation with STMicroelectronics and Boschman, and related devices have been manufactured by STMicroelectronics. With the increase in business volume, we believe that a second supplier will be added, which may be an OSAT from Asia, and may be a discrete device manufacturer before that. In fact, the automotive market not only promotes the SiC power device market, but also reshapes the market competition pattern and ecosystem, which has a profound impact on this field.
 
This report provides an overview of various SiC device technologies, including an introduction to discrete and module development, as well as the status and reliability of commercial products. This report also provides a comprehensive summary of the power SiC industry, covering the entire value chain: from materials to epitaxy to modules. In addition, this report also outlines Yole's interpretation of current market dynamics and future development.
 
Will the wafer shortage continue?
 
In the past two or three years, the transition from 4-inch wafers to 6-inch wafers, coupled with the increase in wafer demand, has led to a shortage of wafer supply. This is one of the most concerned topics in the power SiC industry, and it is also a major industry bottleneck around 2018.
 
Faced with increasing demand, fabs are expanding investment. As a leader in the SiC wafer market, Cree is further consolidating its leadership position. The company has announced an investment of USD 450 million for the expansion of materials and the development of a material manufacturing super factory, and will build a second crystal growth factory. Compared with the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, these initiatives will increase SiC wafer manufacturing capacity by 30 times by fiscal year 2024. With the signing of multiple long-term wafer supply agreements, Cree has secured important revenues that can be used for its materials business in the next few years. However, Cree is not the only manufacturer investing in this business. Manufacturers such as II-VI and Tankeblue are also investing heavily. In addition, there are some new faces that are very active, especially GTAT.


                                     SiC wafer supply development history

In our view, the efforts of wafer suppliers have paid off, and the wafer supply situation in 2019 has improved.
 
At the epitaxial wafer level, market conditions are also evolving rapidly. For example, as the technology matures and the proportion of outsourcing continues to increase, we see that Showa Denko has been continuously expanding its production capacity in 2015, 2016 and 2018.
 
Yole invites you to share its analysis of wafer supply and its impact, as well as its predictions on the wafer and epitaxial wafer market.


               2018 Wolfspeed (Cree) SiC wafer market share estimation

Some companies involved in this report：Alstom, Ascatron, Aymont, Bombardier, Basic Semiconductor, Brückwell Technology, Caly Technology, Clas-SiC Wafer Fab, CREE, CRRC, Danfoss, Delphi, DENSO, Dow Corning, Epiworld, Episil, Fraunhofer IISB, Fuji Electric, GE, GeneSiC, Global Power Device, Global Power Technology, Hestia Power, Hitachi, IBS, II-VI, Infineon, MicroSemi, Mitsubishi Electric, Norstel, Northrop Grumman, NXP, ON Semiconductor, Panasonic, Philips, Powerex, Raytheon, RENESAS, ROHM, Sanrex, Schneider Electric, Semikron, Shindengen, SICC, Siemens, SMA, STMicroelectronics, Toshiba, Toyota, United Silicon Carbide, WeEn, Wolfspeed, X-Fab, Yaskawa…