ST introduces new automotive quality grade silicon carbide (SiC) diodes

     ST Launches New Automotive Quality grade Silicon Carbide (SiC) diodes, To meet the stringent requirements of new energy vehicles such as electric vehicles and Plug-in Hybrids (PHEV, plug-in Hybrids) for on-board battery chargers (OBC, on-board battery chargers) to handle high power in a limited space.

     These diodes allow designers to develop smaller power modules, which are not only beneficial for automotive power systems, but also make them a key option to overcome the inverter miniaturization challenge presented by Google and IEEE. Google is funding up to $1 million in prizes for inverters that are less than one-tenth the size of existing inverters and are suitable for a variety of applications, especially kilowatt-level inverter designs for solar micro-generators. St is a partner in the open challenge.

     The new diodes use advanced technology to prevent high-current spikes from burning out the device. To be on the safe side, designers still overuse diodes. The new product developed by ST changes this completely, with an overcurrent protection value of 2.5 times the rated current value, so designers can choose smaller, more economical diodes with lower current without compromising reliability and energy efficiency.

     St's new silicon carbide diode has passed automotive product testing, and the polar contact impulse voltage has been increased to 650V, which can meet the requirements of designers and automobile manufacturers who want to reduce the voltage derating factor. To ensure that there is a sufficient safety margin between the nominal voltage and the instantaneous peak voltage of the vehicle charging semiconductor components.

     As a Wide Band-Gap (WBG) technology, silicon carbide has well-known energy efficiency advantages. Compared with the size of the component itself, the switching loss (switching loss) and rated voltage (voltage rating) two parameters, the new product is better than the traditional silicon diode. The 650V diodes include the 10A STPSC10H065DY in the TO-220AC power package and the 12A STPSC12H065DY in the TO-220AC package. In addition, the STPSC20H065CTY in the TO-220AB package and the STPSC20H065CWY in the TO-247 package are dual-diode products with two built-in 10A diodes TO maximize space utilization and reduce the weight of the on-board charger.