Feb 13 2007
Cree, Inc., a market leader in silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors, announced that it is shipping production quantities of a new 50-amp Zero Recovery® Schottky rectifier operating at 1200 volts. The new CPW2-1200S050 demonstrates Cree’s ability to develop innovative power-handling devices that can significantly improve levels of efficiency in power inverters. This advance means that applications such as solar and wind power converters, industrial motor drives, and electric vehicles using these Cree devices can increase their operating efficiency beyond current levels.
Compared with traditional silicon-based diodes, Cree’s SiC-based Zero Recovery rectifiers can:
- Simplify Power Factor Correction Boost design by eliminating the need for snubbers and reducing component count.
- Reduce power losses, leading to cooler operating temperatures.
- Produce significantly less electromagnetic interference (EMI).
- Better support new design objectives for efficiency set forth by the EPA, California Electric Commission and other agencies.
“Recent advancements Cree has made in material quality allow us to expand our product offerings into much higher power levels, opening whole new applications for our SiC power device technology,” said John Palmour, Cree executive vice president for advanced devices. “This new device is another example of Cree’s leadership in silicon carbide materials and high power devices. It can help designers address energy efficiency requirements driven by global energy concerns.”
The CPW2-1200S050 reaches new power levels because of significant SiC materials quality advancements achieved in the last year. It also features the industry’s largest-area SiC die, with a die size of 8.2 mm x 4 mm. Fundamental to these advancements are very low defect density substrates, including zero micropipe SiC substrates. This remarkable advance in technology was made possible by pioneering research performed by INTRINSIC Semiconductor, acquired by Cree in 2006, in combination with major research efforts funded by DARPA and the Army Research Laboratories.