News: Microelectronics
4 April 2023
DENSO develops its first inverter using SiC power semiconductors
Automotive supplier DENSO Corp of Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan has developed its first inverter based on silicon carbide (SiC). Incorporated in the eAxle (an electric driving module developed by BluE Nexus Corp), the inverter will be used in the new RZ, Lexus’ first dedicated battery electric vehicle (BEV) model, released on 30 March.
DENSO says that SiC power semiconductors with its unique trench-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure improve the output per chip due to reducing the power loss caused by heat generation. The structure achieves high voltage and low on-resistance operation.
Based on technology jointly developed with Toyota Central R&D Labs Inc, DENSO says that it utilizes SiC epitaxial wafers incorporating the results of work commissioned by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). As a result, the firm reckons that it has halved the number of crystal defects that prevent the device from operating normally due to the disorder of the atomic arrangement of the crystal.
Reducing the crystal defect density ensures the quality of SiC power semiconductor devices used in vehicles and their stable production, says the firm.
DENSO calls its SiC technology ‘REVOSIC’ and is using it to develop technologies for products ranging from wafers to semiconductor devices and modules such as power cards.
