Powered by increasing need for hybrid and electric vehicles, power supplies, photovoltaic (PV) inverters and various conventional applications, the rising worldwide market for gallium nitride power semiconductors and silicon carbide will get bigger by an aspect of 17 over the 10 years from 2013 (only $150 million) to 2023 ($2.5 billion), forecasts market research firm IHS Inc in the report ‘The World Market for SiC & GaN Power Semiconductors – 2014 Edition.

SiC and GaN power semiconductors have been attempting to vindicate themselves in main applications for a several years now. Nevertheless, around 15% of the end market could comprise of latest applications utilizing these device technologies those are presently still two or three years away from production. Alongside with the market for hybrid and electric vehicles themselves, at present it is obvious that the market for electric vehicle charging infrastructure together with battery charging stations for plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles – is also a possible attractive field for SiC and GaN power devices.

No unanimous universal standard is there for hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) charging infrastructure, so there are different contending standards narrating the diverse modes or levels for AC and DC charging. Each of the miscellaneous AC levels can be taken into account for electro-mechanical system, which needs few, if any, power semiconductors. The IHS report hence only takes in account ‘fast charging’ or DC systems as these are AC-DC power supplies, transmuting power from the mains (generally three-phase) into very high currents of up to 125-400A at direct-current voltages up to 480-600VDC (distributing a highest power of 240kW).

Wireless power charges battery-operated apparatuses by emitting power via air instead of via power cables. Even though nearness within a stated limit is necessary, this new technology is acquiring popularity in cell phones, notebook computers, game controllers, tablets, electric vehicles, and other consumer products. The reception of SiC and GaN power semiconductors will be unimportant in inductive charging solutions, which are intended to consent with the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) Qi or Power Matters Alliance (PMA) standards whereas silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are sufficient for the low frequencies engaged. In contradiction, the rapid-switching abilities of SiC and GaN power semiconductors are perfect for magnetic-resonance power-transfer applications, which execute nicely at the higher frequencies of the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) standard.

There are two other applications which could possibly utilize SiC power modules. These are traction and wind turbines. Their high cost, unverified reliableness, and a shortage of availableness of high-current-rated modules are the biggest obstacles to adoption in both instances, in general, and of full SiC modules particularly. Both applications typically need 1700V modules, a voltage at which small numbers of SiC transistors have already been developed. Samples are on their way of production, but profit-oriented manufacture is not prospective to begin until 2016 or 2017.

For high-powered SiC technologies, there are numerous newly developed medical applications and other possible industrial applications. For low-voltage GaN devices, the latest applications comprise numerous rising technologies those are awaited to drive important development in the future, such as light detection, wireless envelope tracking, and ranging (LIDAR), medical devices and  Class-B audio amplifiers.

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