First-generation elemental semiconductor materials: such as silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge);

Third-generation wide-bandgap materials: such as silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN), aluminum nitride (AlN), gallium oxide (Ga?O?), etc.

Among them, silicon carbide and gallium nitride are the semiconductor materials with the brightest commercial prospects, arguably the new "golden track" within the semiconductor industry.

The first human discovery of silicon carbide occurred in 1891, when American Edward Goodrich Acheson found a compound of carbon while electrochemically synthesizing diamonds — this marked the first synthesis and discovery of SiC. After a century of exploration, particularly since the 21st century, humanity has finally clarified the advantages and characteristics of silicon carbide, and has begun utilizing these properties to develop various new devices, leading to relatively rapid growth in the SiC industry.

※ Performance Advantages of Silicon Carbide

Considering silicon carbide chips alone, in the field of power semiconductors, SiC offers unparalleled advantages over traditional silicon-based power chips: SiC can withstand higher currents and voltages, achieve higher switching speeds, incur lower energy losses, and tolerate higher temperatures. As a result, power modules made with SiC can reduce the number of capacitors, inductors, coils, and heat dissipation components, making the entire power device module lighter, more energy-efficient, and more powerful, while also enhancing reliability. The advantages are very clear, summarized as follows:

1. Lower impedance, enabling smaller product designs and higher efficiency;

2. Extremely high switching speed, significantly reducing power switching losses;

3. Excellent high-temperature characteristics, enabling operation at higher temperatures.

※ Why is Silicon Carbide So Expensive?

Everyone knows about the enormous commercial potential of silicon carbide, but anyone entering this industry will immediately face the most practical question: where do we get the material?

At least half of the reason why the current traditional silicon-based industry has such a highly mature commercial environment is that silicon materials are relatively easy to obtain. Mature and efficient silicon material preparation technologies have made silicon very inexpensive — currently, 6-inch silicon polished wafers cost only RMB 150, 8-inch cost RMB 300, and 12-inch cost around RMB 850.

Only when raw materials are cheap enough can the industry scale up!

Currently, using the Czochralski method, a 2-3 meter silicon single crystal ingot can be grown in 72 hours, and a single ingot can be sliced into thousands of wafers.

Do you know how thick a silicon carbide single crystal can grow in 72 hours? Less than a few centimeters!!!

Currently, the fastest method for growing SiC single crystals achieves a growth rate of about 0.1–0.2 mm/h, meaning that in 72 hours, the crystal thickness is only 7.2 mm to 14.4 mm.

So you can imagine how expensive the resulting SiC single crystal wafers are. Currently, 4-inch SiC substrates sell for around RMB 2,000–3,000, and 6-inch substrates fetch RMB 6,000–8,000, with epitaxial wafers costing at least double that — and they are often in short supply.

As the world's leading SiC company, U.S.-based Cree monopolizes over 70% of production capacity. As a result, downstream manufacturers both in China and abroad are signing long-term supply agreements with Cree to secure capacity.

※ The Silicon Carbide Market

SiC MOSFETs and SiC diodes are used in solar, UPS, industrial, and automotive applications: primarily in inverters for photovoltaic energy storage, UPS power supplies for data center servers, smart grid charging stations, and other areas requiring high conversion efficiency. However, with the growth of electric and hybrid vehicles (xEV) in recent years, SiC has also rapidly emerged in this new field, spanning industries including energy (PV, EV charging, smart grids, etc.), automotive (OBC, inverters), and infrastructure (servers), among others.

In summary, in the near future, we can foresee that silicon carbide will have a revolutionary impact on the power electronics industry!