Status Of The Power Electronics Industry

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POWER ELECTRONICS : Status of the Power Electronics Industry

Highlighting the trends of the disruptive power semiconductors technology and market

Power electronics: a $20 billion devices market with 4 main semiconductor technologies
In 2012, the market for semiconductor devices (discrete, modules and ICs) dedicated to the power electronics industry will reach $20 billion. With applications as diversified as hybrid cars, PV inverters, lighting, energy, and voltage ranging from a few volts to a few thousands volts, power electronics is and will remain one of the most attractive branches of the semiconductor industry over the next decade. http://www.bharatbook.com/market-research-reports/consumer-electronics-market-research-report/status-of-the-power-electronics-industry.html

In this report, Yole Développement provides a complete breakdown of 1) market forecasts and player shares depending on the application, 2) the voltage range and the geography for power discrete and modules, and 3) wafers used for power semiconductor device manufacturing.

The power electronics ...
... industry now deals with conversion and motion, and thus requires lighter/smaller, cheaper and more efficient systems. This evolution starts with improvements at the semiconductor level, and there are four technologies which are best suited to handle new system requirements: silicon IGBT, Super Junction (SJ) MOSFETs, Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC)-based devices. Electronics Industry

Already well established in the market, IGBTs account for $1.6 billion in the medium to high voltage sector. In this report, we describe a trend towards decreasing voltage range in order to target consumer applications such as TVs, computer adapters and cameras, in order to access more segments. At the same time, SJ MOSFETs present in these applications offer faster switching frequencies and competitive cost. We estimate the SJ MOSFET market will reach $567 million by the end of the year.

GaN and SiC also have a chance to outdo silicon performance and enhance inverter capabilities. However, materials are still expensive and the technology is not yet ready. On the other hand, both of these materials can benefit from their developed status in the LED industry, and we have seen plenty of LED players paying attention to the opportunity that power electronics represent.

Each technology faces strong developments…
In this report, Yole Développement clearly identifies the uses for these four main technologies. Nevertheless, all of them still struggle to bring ideal solutions for every application at every power/voltage range. There are two consequences:

GaN and SiC are not mature yet for the power electronics market: the first one requires technological enhancement of the manufacturing process, especially for epitaxy thickness, and the second one is an expensive material that does not allow implementation within consumer-like businesses.
A segmentation between technology and the power/voltage range will take place, and some segments will only accept one « best » technology.

…And each technology has a particular industry structure
While SJ MOSFETs see new players and foundry service suppliers, the IGBT dies’ industry is getting consolidated by the presence of large players involved in many applications, such as Infineon, Mitsubishi Electric and Fuji. However, IGBT (and SJ MOSFET) modules business is increasing and we see new players entering to provide solutions for cooling, interconnections, substrates, packaging, and gel.

On the other hand, the SiC industry, which has been led by CREE, is now an interesting playground for newplayers. With access to lower cost material, the SiC industry now has the possibility to ramp up and get organized. However, apart from the PFC business, technological capabilities of SiC show that it will surely be dedicated to high power/voltage applications. Last but not least, SiC companies have appeared in China, which will definitely provide competition and tougher access to local markets.
At this point in time, the GaN industry is mostly a US business. International Rectifier, EPC, Transphorm, Microsemi or GaN Systems now propose fully off-the-shelf or customized products. However, some pioneers like MicroGaN, NEC or Powdec, are showing there is a trend to globalize the GaN manufacturing industry. At the same time, the market is still soft and LED players are considering using their technological platform to enter this power electronics market, which will be very much low power/voltage oriented.

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