Wide bandgap (WBG) materials are a hot topic in the semiconductor world right now, with exponential growth in interest and demand.
The growth in demand for WBG power devices is due to their benefits compared to traditional silicon in many applications; their properties, such as increased power density and higher efficiency, are ideal for sustainable, low-waste power solutions.
GaN is enabling smaller and higher power charging adapters for our phones, tablets, and laptops.
WBG materials are also referred to as compound semiconductors because they combine two or more elements. Common types used in the electronics industry include silicon carbide (SiC), gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN) and indium phosphide (InP) – with SiC and GaN the two main choices for power applications. Compound semiconductors are also finding many new applications beyond power, including microLED displays and RF communications.
In this article, we’ll look at the roadmap for SiC and GaN technologies in power applications from both a technology and a supply chain perspective. How will the landscape change over the next few years – will there be even better devices? And can capacity keep up with fast-growing demand?
The wide bandgap power market is growing fast
Wide bandgap semiconductors can operate at higher switching frequencies than silicon equivalents, which improves the efficiency of power supplies. SiC can also work at higher voltages and temperatures than silicon. These characteristics mean they are massively in demand right now, and the future is bright. Applications for WBG power semiconductors currently include data centres, electric vehicles, motor drives, and inverters for solar power (photovoltaic, or PV). GaN is also being widely adopted in lower power applications, such as telecoms, datacoms, and consumer technology, such as laptop and smartphone power adapters (where GaN’s efficiency and compactness enable faster charging from a smaller plug).
Overall, the market for WBG power semiconductors is growing quicker than the market for silicon power semiconductors. According to Yole, by 2029, the power SiC device market will reach nearly $10 billion, and the power GaN device market will reach $2.25 billion1.
The automotive sector demands efficiency
Perhaps the biggest opportunity for WBG power devices, and specifically for SiC, is in the automotive sector, where their excellent efficiency makes WBG the technology of choice for chargers and for on-board power conversion in electric cars. Better efficiency means electric vehicles (EVs) can increase their driving range that can be obtained from the same battery, a major competitive differentiator that affects the buying decisions of consumers. Alternatively, they can achieve the same range with a smaller, lighter, and cheaper battery.
As EVs increasingly move to an 800V architecture to enable fast charging, instead of today’s more common 400V, the high voltage performance of SiC is another big advantage. For 800V vehicles, 1200V SiC devices are required, while higher voltage devices of up to 1700V (or even more) are targeting smaller-volume industrial and transportation applications.
The power efficiency of SiC devices will also lead to a big improvement in efficiency across the entire charging ecosystem, enabling the electricity grid to keep up with the demands of a fast-growing EV population. This includes vehicle-to-grid (V2G) implementations, enabling vehicles to return power to the grid to help meet peak demands – which also needs a reliable, efficient solution.
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With the ongoing shift to renewable energy and the electrification of transport and industry, the demand for higher power and greater energy efficiency in electronics is increasing. Wide bandgap technologies including SiC and GaN bring many advantages.
WBG OVERVIEWPowering AI and data centres
The boom in artificial intelligence (AI) is driving demand for high performance computing (HPC) in data centres, and the efficiency of WBG devices makes them an excellent fit for data centre power supplies. Data centres use around 1% to 1.5% of global electricity, a figure which is predicted to rise substantially in the near future2.
This electricity consumption needs to be kept under control, and ideally reduced, both for financial reasons and to minimise carbon emissions and enable us to hit the planet’s Net Zero targets.
One way to do this is to improve power efficiency in data centres – which is where WBG devices can step in. With more than 10,000 data centres3 worldwide, the potential savings are dramatic.
Supply chain trends for WBG
While WBG technology is revolutionary, the good news is that WBG devices are manufactured in a similar way to silicon. This means there is a well-established global supply chain, and existing plants can be reused if desired. The WBG industry has also developed its own ecosystem, including equipment for wafer manufacturing, fabrication, and testing.
For power applications, both SiC and GaN devices are primarily made today using 200 mm wafers. Supply from China is strong, with multiple other suppliers in the U.S. and Europe.
However, there have been concerns that there is too much reliance on China and Taiwan for semiconductor manufacturing, both from a straightforward commercial angle, and in terms of national interests in the West.
Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a big shortage in semiconductors, particularly for the automotive industry. In hindsight, this was more due to an upturn in consumer demand than any major reduction in chip production4, but it has raised awareness of the possible fragility of interlinked supply chains.
In response to the potential for more disruption in future, the US CHIPS and Science Act, and the EU’s equivalent legislation, are part of an attempt to fix weaknesses in supply chains, and to improve resilience and national security, by encouraging more domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities to be built in North America and Europe.
The impact is huge – with fab capacity in the U.S. projected to triple by 20325. To put this into context, U.S. fab capacity grew just 11% in the decade before (2012-22). For instance, GlobalWafers of Taiwan will receive up to $400 million funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to help build and expand its facilities in Texas, including production of SiC wafers6.
To give a recent European example of investment in compound semiconductors, onsemi announced it is building a SiC manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic7, with an investment of up to $2 billion, which will strengthen its supply chain in central Europe.
The company says this is to enhance its production of power semiconductors, aimed at applications in electric vehicles, renewable energy and AI data centres. The site will be able to produce more than three million wafers each year, including more than a billion power devices.
Managing supply chains is an immensely complicated task, so Avnet Silica provides a range of services to help our customers, with innovative tools as well as tried and tested methodologies. This includes forecast management, consignment solutions, vendor managed inventory (VMI) and Kanban solutions.
The future of WBG power technology
In power electronics applications, SiC and GaN have become the materials of choice, due to their excellent electrical properties, and also because of SiC’s ability to operate at high temperatures.
One area of ongoing technological development is the choice of material for the substrate. For any semiconductor, the device is formed on a wafer, and the material used for this wafer plays a significant role both in the complexity of manufacturing and the properties of the finished device.
For example, conventional GaN power devices are fabricated on silicon substrates, which enables the reuse of existing manufacturing capabilities. While this limits operating voltage, 1200V ratings with GaN-on-silicon are being realised, by improving processes and specifically with improvements in metal-organic chemical vapour–deposition (MOCVD) growth techniques that are used in manufacturing.
Continuing research in the industry is always looking for new options for the substrates, to deliver better performance and higher efficiency. In future, this is likely to involve the use of other new materials, such as gallium oxide (Ga2O3).
Finally, there is another factor that might become important in future: the availability of raw materials for compound semiconductors. Specifically, supplies of gallium are limited, and are controlled by certain countries.
Conclusions
Wide bandgap devices, also known as compound semiconductors, have become a familiar technology in our industry, providing excellent power efficiency and a broad range of performance benefits compared to conventional silicon options.
There is strong growth in the WBG sector, including large investments from material and device vendors – including government-backed programs to boost manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and Europe.
Our customers can take confidence from these improvements to the resilience of the WBG supply chain, which will enable them to take full advantage of the technology’s benefits – both right now, and with the likely innovations that are just around the corner.
Reference
[1] https://www.yolegroup.com/yole-group-actuality/compound-semiconductors-are-changing-the-power-rf-and-photonic-industries/
[2] https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/data-centres-and-data-transmission-networks
[3] https://csa.catapult.org.uk/news-insights/insights/compound-semiconductors-the-uks-answer-to-cleaner-and-greener-data-centres/
[4] https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/mi/research-analysis/semiconductor-supply-chain-political-physical-challenges-2024.html
[5] https://www.semiconductors.org/emerging-resilience-in-the-semiconductor-supply-chain/
[6] https://compoundsemiconductor.net/article/119818/_GlobalWafers_to_get_400M_under_the_CHIPS_A
[7] https://www.yolegroup.com/industry-news/onsemi-selects-the-czech-republic-to-establish-end-to-end-silicon-carbide-production-for-advanced-power-semiconductors/
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