News: Microelectronics
5 March 2021
Infineon launches 650V CoolSiC Hybrid Discrete for Automotive
Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany has launched the 650V CoolSiC Hybrid Discrete for Automotive (available now). The device contains a 50A TRENCHSTOP 5 fast-switching insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and a CoolSiC Schottky diode to enable a cost-efficient performance boost as well as high reliability. The firm says that this combination creates a cost-performance trade-off for hard-switching topologies and supports high system integrity in addition to bi-directional charging, making the device suitable for fast-switching automotive applications such as on-board chargers (OBC), power factor correction (PFC), and DC-DC and DC-AC converters.
The integrated fast-switching 50A IGBT enables MOSFET-like turn-off behavior outperforming pure silicon solutions. In contrast to regular silicon carbide MOSFETs, the plug-and-play solution for a fast time-to-market achieves 95-97% system efficiency at a lower cost level, it is reckoned. Furthermore, the CoolSiC Schottky diode supports reduced turn-on and recovery losses. Compared with pure silicon designs, the device is suitable for hard commutation with 30% lower losses. With its low cooling requirements, the diode also provides what is claimed to be an excellent cost-performance trade-off at the system level.
As an OBC supplier focusing on the development of automotive power electronics and providing highly reliable OBCs and DC-DC converters, China-based Shenzhen VMAX New Energy Co Ltd is using Infineon’s latest CoolSiC Hybrid Discrete in its next-generation OBC/DC-DC system.
Picture: Shenzhen VMAX New Energy’s OBC/DC-DC system, which uses Infineon’s 650V CoolSiC Hybrid Discrete for Automotive.
“The partnership we have with Infineon is an essential cornerstone of our philosophy of consistently creating maximum value for our customers,” says VMAX’s R&D director Xu Jinzhu. “The CoolSiC Hybrid Discrete allows us to simplify driver design, accelerate product development, lower costs and increase system robustness,” he adds. “The integrated silicon carbide diodes without reverse recovery charge further optimize the EMC characteristics of the system. This results in greater performance benefits and a better price/performance ratio in topologies such as totem-pole PFC and DAB.”
