by Silicon Carbide: The wonder material of the future
Silicon carbide, also known as carborundum, is a compound of silicon and carbon with chemical formula SiC. It is a highly versatile semiconductor material with wide array of properties making it suitable for high power, high temperature and radiation resistant applications. In recent years, Silicon carbide semiconductor devices are revolutionizing many industries by enabling more efficient power electronic systems. This article aims to discuss the properties and applications of this wonder material called silicon carbide.
Properties of Silicon Carbide
Silicon carbide possesses some remarkable material properties that make it very useful for various applications. Some of the key properties of silicon carbide are:
Hardness: Silicon carbide is one of the hardest materials found in nature just behind diamond. It has a hardness of 9 on Mohs scale making it suitable for abrasive and protective applications.
High Breakdown Electric Field: Silicon carbide has a breakdown electric field strength of around 2.2 million volts per centimeter. This is nearly ten times stronger than normal silicon. This allows silicon carbide devices to operate at much higher voltages.
Wide Bandgap: Silicon carbide has a very wide bandgap of 3.26 electronvolt compared to 1.12 electronvolt of silicon. A wider bandgap allows devices to operate at higher temperatures and frequencies.
High Thermal Conductivity: Silicon carbide has a thermal conductivity of nearly 3-5 W/cm°K at room temperature. This high thermal conductivity allows management of large amount of heat generation in devices.
Chemical Inertness: Due to its crystal structure and strong bonds, silicon carbide is very resistant to chemical attack and physically and chemically stable at high temperatures in oxidizing environments where ordinary semiconductors like silicon would melt or degrade.
Radiation Hardness: The covalent bonds and wide band gap of silicon carbide provides useful radiation hardness for applications in radioactive environments like nuclear power plants.
These outstanding material properties enable silicon carbide to be used for high power, high temperature, radiation tolerant and harsh environment applications opening new opportunities.
Applications of Silicon Carbide
Due to its wide bandgap, high temperature compatibility and mechanical strength, silicon carbide finds applications across many industries including:
Power Electronics: Silicon carbide power devices can operate at much higher switching frequencies and temperatures compared to conventional silicon. This enables building more compact and highly efficient power supplies, DC-DC converters, electric vehicle charging systems, solar inverters and industrial motor drives.
Renewable Energy: Silicon carbide devices are increasingly used in solar and wind power inverters, charging circuits for batteries and other storage devices to improve their efficiency and reduce sizes. Its high temperature properties also suits concentrated solar power systems.
Aviation and Aerospace: Its properties enables development of more durable and lightweight brake systems, sensors, avionics and auxiliary power units. Silicon carbide parts are increasingly being used in commercial and military aircrafts and rockets.
Electric and Hybrid Vehicles: Being able to handle higher operating temperatures, voltages and frequencies, silicon carbide applications include battery chargers, onboard chargers and inverters enabling faster charging and longer driving range.
Industrial Heating: Silicon carbide components are used in manufacturing heating elements for industrial furnaces, kilns and other processes that require reliable operation at high temperatures.
Nuclear Power: Due to its radiation tolerance and high temperature resistance, silicon carbide materials find applications as fuel cladding, control rod components and sensors within the radioactive environment of nuclear power plants and reactors.
Defense and Aerospace: Owing to SiC’s mechanical strength and ability to withstand harsh environments, it is used in armor piercing bullets, satellite mirrors, military aircraft and space vehicle structures.
Outlook
With advancements in crystal growth and wafer manufacturing, costs of silicon carbide devices are declining making its use more widespread. It is expected that the market for silicon carbide devices and components will grow at a rapid pace over next decade as industries increasingly adopt wide bandgap semiconductors to gain performance, efficiency and miniaturization benefits. Silicon carbide’s potential is increasingly being tapped for criticalinfrastructure, transport and renewable energy industry applications. As material science, fabrication technologies mature further, silicon carbide will undoubtedly become a material of choice for electronics and high technology systems of the future. Its unique combination of properties make silicon carbide truly an engineering wonder material.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
Money Singh is a seasoned content writer with over four years of experience in the market research sector. Her expertise spans various industries, including food and beverages, biotechnology, chemicals and materials, defense and aerospace, consumer goods, etc.
