SiC Wafer Market

SiC Wafer Market

Silicon-based devices are approaching physical limits, and compound semiconductors have broad prospects. Meanwhile, in some high-power, high-voltage, high-frequency, and high-temperature applications (such as new energy and 5G communications), the performance of silicon-based devices has gradually failed to meet the requirements. Due to the excellent performance of compound semiconductors represented by SiC wafer, the compound semiconductors are gradually being used for large-scale commercial use in the fields of communication radio frequency, optical communication, and power electronics. PAM-XIAMEN can offer SiC substrate. For SiC wafer market forecast, please refer to the diagram of SiC wafer demand in global market:

sic需求量

Fig. 1 Demand for SiC wafers in 2017-2025 (ten thousand pieces)

It can be seen from Figure 2 that SiC materials will be an important foundation for SiC and GaN devices in the field of new energy and 5G communications in the future.

SiC Wafer Production Line

Fig. 2 SiC Wafer Production Line

1. SiC Wafer Market in 5G Communication

For 5G communication, GaN-on-SiC is mainly used in the radio frequency field, mainly due to the high thermal conductivity and low RF loss of SiC substrate, which is suitable for macro base stations with high power. According to Yole, it is expected that the market of GaN radio frequency devices in communication infrastructure will reach US$731 million in 2025, and the compound growth rate from 2019 to 2025 will reach 14.88%. The overall market size will reach 2 billion US dollars in 2025, and the compound growth rate from 2019 to 2025 will reach 12%. Therefore, SiC wafer market demand continues to increase. More about global SiC wafer market specifically from the perspective of new energy:

2. New Energy Drives Silicon Carbide Wafer Market Development

2.1 SiC Power Devices for New Energy Vehicles

There will be a growth for SiC wafer market share in the new energy field. We can see from the Figure 3 that new energy vehicle is growing rapidly, which drives the rapid expansion of power semiconductor market demand, and power device made from 4H silicon carbide substrate may come with great opportunities.

Future Growth Rate of New Energy Vehicles

Fig. 3-1 Future Growth Rate of New Energy Vehicles

Components for Electric Vehicle Applications

Fig.3-2 Components for Electric Vehicle Applications

Under the conditions of the same power level, the use of devices on single crystal SiC substrate can reduce the volume of electric drives and electronic controls to meet the needs of higher power density and more compact design, enabling electric vehicles to have a longer cruising range.

2.2 Photovoltaic Generation based on SiC Power Device

In the future, photovoltaic power generation will be the main direction of global new energy development, and the newly installed capacity will continue to increase. Inverters are an indispensable part of photovoltaic power and are one of the keys to the effective and rapid penetration of photovoltaic power generation. Photovoltaic inverters using SiC-MOSFETs or power modules combined with SiC-MOSFETs and SiC-SBD can increase the conversion efficiency from 96% to more than 99%, resulting in an energy loss reduction of over 50%.

Forecast of the Promotion of SiC Devices in Photovoltaic Devices

Fig. 4 Forecast of the Promotion of SiC Devices in Photovoltaic Devices

On the whole, with the miniaturization of devices and the requirements for efficiency improvement, power electronic devices made of compound semiconductors can cover high-power, high-frequency and full-control fields. As a result, the emergence of silicon carbide substrate is in line with the trend of future energy efficiency improvement. In the future, silicon carbide wafer market size will continue to expand in the fields of PFC power supply, photovoltaics, pure electric and hybrid vehicles, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), motor drives, wind power generation, and railway transportation. Therefore, SiC wafer market vendors, including PAM-XIAMEN, should increase investment in production capacity to meet future demand.

For more information, please contact us email at victorchan@powerwaywafer.com and powerwaymaterial@gmail.com.

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