- News
4 June 2018
Infineon launches first automotive CoolSiC Schottky diodes
© Semiconductor Today Magazine / Juno PublishiPicture: Disco’s DAL7440 KABRA laser saw.
In booth #412 (hall 9) at PCIM Europe 2018 (Power Conversion and Intelligent Motion) in Nuremberg, Germany (5-7 June), Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany is presenting the first products in its automotive silicon carbide portfolio: the CoolSiC Schottky diode family is now ready for existing and future on-board charger (OBC) applications in hybrid and electric vehicles. Infineon has designed the diodes specifically to meet the high requirements of the automotive industry regarding reliability, quality and performance.
“The SiC technology is now mature to be deployed at broad scale in automotive systems,” says Stephan Zizala, VP & general manager for Automotive High Power at Infineon. “The launch of the automotive CoolSiC Schottky diode family is a milestone in the deployment of Infineon’s SiC product portfolio for on-board charger, DC/DC converters and inverter systems,” he adds.
The new product family is based on Infineon’s fifth-generation Schottky diode, which has been further improved to meet the reliability requirements demanded by the automotive industry. Due to a new passivation layer concept, this is claimed to be the most robust automotive device available on the market regarding humidity and corrosion. Moreover, because it is based on 110µm-thick wafer technology, it exhibits what is reckoned to be one of the best figures of merit (Qc x Vf) in its category (a lower figure of merit implies lower power losses and hence better electrical performance).
Compared to the traditional Silicon Rapid diode, the CoolSiC automotive Schottky diode can improve the efficiency of an on-board charger by one percentage point over all load conditions, says Infineon. This leads to a potential reduction of 200kg in CO2 emissions over the typical lifetime of an electric car (based on the German energy mix), it is reckoned.
The first derivate (in the 650V class) will be available on the open market in September. Using a standard 3-pin TO247 package, the new products can easily be implemented into an on-board charger system, says Infineon. They can be used optimally in combination with Infineon’s TRENCHSTOP insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and CoolMOS products.
Infineon SiC Schottky barrier diodes
www.mesago.de/en/PCIM/main.htm