According to Omdia's "SiC and GaN Power Semiconductor Report 2020", the global sales revenue of SiC and GaN power semiconductors is expected to increase from US$571 million in 2018 to US$854 million at the end of 2020. It is estimated that in the next ten years, the annual market revenue will grow at a double-digit rate and will exceed 5 billion US dollars by 2029.
The total amount of these long-term market forecasts is about $1 billion lower than the figure in last year's report. This is because the demand for almost all applications has slowed down since 2018. In addition, the average price of equipment in 2019 has also fallen. Note: The equipment forecasts used for this year's forecast are all calculated from 2019, and do not take into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
SiC Schottky diodes have been on the market for more than a decade. In recent years, SiC metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (SiC MOSFETs) and junction field effect transistors (SiC JFETs) have appeared. There are also more and more SiC power modules, including hybrid SiC modules (this module contains SiC diodes with Si insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs)), and complete SiC modules containing SiC MOSFETs (regardless of whether such modules contain SiC or not). diode).
SiC MOSFETs are very popular among manufacturers, and several companies have already provided such products. Several factors have contributed to the decrease in average prices in 2019. For example, 650-volt, 700-volt, and 900-volt SiC MOSFETs are on the market, and their pricing competes with silicon super-junction MOSFETs. Another example is increased competition between suppliers.
"The price drop will ultimately stimulate the faster adoption of SiC MOSFET technology." said Richard Eden, senior principal analyst at Omdia Power Semiconductors. "In contrast, GaN power transistors and GaN system integrated circuits have only recently appeared on the market. GaN is A wide band gap material has performance advantages similar to SiC, but its cost reduction potential is greater. These price and performance advantages are possible because GaN power devices can be developed on silicon or sapphire substrates. Silicon substrates and sapphire substrates are cheaper than SiC. Although GaN transistors are only now available, the sales of GaN system integrated circuits from companies such as Power Integrations, Texas Instruments, and Navitas Semiconductor are expected to grow at a faster rate."
SiC and GaN power semiconductor market trends
By the end of 2020, SiC MOSFETs are expected to generate approximately US$320 million in revenue, which is equivalent to that of Schottky diodes. From 2021, SiC MOSFETs will grow at a slightly faster rate and become the best-selling discrete SiC power device. At the same time, although the reliability, price and performance of SiC JFETs are good, it is predicted that the revenue of SiC JFETs is much less than that of SiC MOSFETs.
"End users like normally-off SiC MOSFETs, so it seems that SiC JFETs may still be specialized and niche products." Eden said, "However, although there are few active suppliers, sales of SiC JFETs are expected to be astonishing. The rate of growth."
The sales of hybrid SiC power modules that combine Si IGBTs and SIC diodes are estimated to be approximately US$72 million in 2019, and the sales of full SiC power modules in 2019 are estimated to be approximately US$50 million. Omdia predicts that by 2029, full SiC power modules will achieve more than $850 million in revenue, because they will be prioritized for hybrid and electric vehicle power system inverters. In contrast, hybrid SiC power modules will be mainly used in photovoltaic (PV) inverters, uninterruptible power supply systems and other industrial applications, and the growth rate will be much slower.
What has changed since 2019?
Now, SiC and GaN power devices have trillions of hours of device field experience. Suppliers, even new companies entering the market, are proving this by obtaining JEDEC and AEC-Q101 certifications. SiC and GaN devices do not seem to have any unexpected reliability issues; in fact, they are generally better than silicon devices.
The lower operating voltages of SiC MOSFET and SiC JFET, such as 650V, 800V and 900V, enable SiC to compete with Si superjunction MOSFETs in terms of performance and price.
End products containing GaN transistors and GaN system integrated circuits have been put into mass production, especially USB Type-C power adapters and chargers for fast charging of mobile phones and notebook computers. In addition, many GaN devices are being manufactured by foundry service providers that provide internal GaN epitaxial crystal growth on standard silicon wafers. With the increase in output, the capacity may expand indefinitely.