Semiconductor Today June July 2020 GaN and SiC Power

60 Market focus: Power electronics
GaN and SiC power

semiconductor markets
to surpass $1bn in 2021
The gallium nitride & silicon carbide power semiconductor market is being energized
by demand from electric vehicles, power supplies and PV inverters, says Omdia.
E
nergized by demand from hybrid & electric vehicles advantages are possible because GaN power devices
(HEVs), power supplies and photovoltaic (PV) can be grown on either silicon or sapphire substrates,
inverters, the global market for silicon carbide which are less expensive than SiC. Although GaN
(SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors transistors are now available, sales of GaN system
is forecast to grow to $854m by the end of 2020 (up integrated circuits, from companies such as Power
from just $571m in 2018) then surpass $1bn in 2021, Integrations, Texas Instruments and Navitas Semicon-
according to Omdia’s ‘SiC & GaN Power Semiconductors ductor, are forecast to rise at a faster rate.”
Report — 2020’. Revenue is expected to increase at a
double-digit annual rate for the next decade, surpassing SiC and GaN power semiconductor
$5bn by 2029. market trends
These long-term market projection totals are about By the end of 2020, SiC MOSFETs are forecasted to
$1bn lower than those in last year’s edition of the generate revenue of about $320m, matching that of
report because demand for almost all applications has Schottky diodes. From 2021 onwards, SiC MOSFETs
slowed since 2018. Moreover, device average prices fell will grow at a slightly faster rate to become the
in 2019. Omdia adds a note a caution: the equipment best-selling discrete SiC power device, it is expected.
forecasts used to create this year’s forecast all date Meanwhile, SiC JFETs are each forecasted to generate
from 2019, and do not take account of the impact of much smaller revenues than those of SiC MOSFETs,
the COVID-19 pandemic. despite achieving good reliability, price and performance.
SiC Schottky diodes have been on the market for more “End-users strongly prefer normally-off SiC MOSFETs,
than a decade, with SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor so SiC JFETs appear likely to remain specialized, niche
field-effect transistors (SiC MOSFETs) and junction-gate products,” Eden says. “However, sales of SiC JFETs are
field-effect transistors (SiC JFETs) appearing in recent forecast to rise at an impressive rate, despite having
years. SiC power modules are also becoming increas- very few active suppliers.”
ingly available, including hybrid SiC modules, containing It is estimated that, in 2019, hybrid SiC power modules
SiC diodes with silicon insulated-gate bipolar transistors (combining Si IGBTs and SiC diodes) generated $72m
(IGBTs), and full SiC modules containing SiC MOSFETs in sales and full SiC power modules generated $50m.
with or without SiC diodes. Full SiC power module revenue is forecasted to exceed
SiC MOSFETs are proving popular among manufactur- $850m by 2029, as they will be preferred for use in
ers, notes Omdia, with several companies already HEV powertrain inverters. In contrast, hybrid SiC
offering them. Several factors caused average pricing power modules will be used mainly in PV inverters,
to fall in 2019, including the introduction of 650V, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and other
700V and 900V SiC MOSFETs priced to compete with industrial applications, delivering a much slower
silicon superjunction MOSFETs, as well as increasing growth rate.
competition among suppliers.
“Declining prices will eventually spur faster adoption What has changed since 2019?
of SiC MOSFET technology,” says Richard Eden, senior There are now trillions of hours of device field experi-
principal analyst for power semiconductors. “In contrast, ence available for both SiC and GaN power devices.
GaN power transistors and GaN system ICs have only Suppliers, even new market entrants, are demonstrating
appeared on the market quite recently,” he adds. this by obtaining JEDEC and AEC-Q101 approvals.
“GaN is a wide-bandgap material offering similar There do not appear to be any unexpected reliability
performance benefits as SiC, but with a higher cost- problems with SiC and GaN devices; in fact, they
reduction potential. These price and performance usually appear better than silicon, notes Omdia.
semiconductor TODAY Compounds&AdvancedSilicon • Vol. 15 • Issue 5 • June/July 2020 www.semiconductor-today.com

Market focus: Power electronics 61
Market forecast for GaN and SiC power semiconductors (millions of US dollars).
SiC MOSFETs and SiC JFETs are available at lower phones and notebook PCs. Also, many GaN devices are
operating voltages, such as 650V, 800V and 900V, being made by foundry service providers, offering in-
allowing SiC to compete with Si Superjunction MOSFETs house GaN epitaxial crystal growth on standard silicon
on both performance and price. wafers, and potentially unlimited production capacity
End-products with GaN transistors and GaN system ICs expansion as volumes ramp, concludes the report. ■
inside are in mass production, particularly USB type-C https://technology.informa.com/624431/
power adaptors and chargers for fast charging of mobile sic-gan-power-semiconductors-report-2020
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GaN and SiC power

semiconductor TODAY Compounds&AdvancedSilicon • Vol. 15 • Issue 5 • June/July 2020 www.semiconductor-today.com

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