PRESENTATION

Silicon carbide offers high hopes for EVs, but can they meet stringent automotive quality levels?

The key to making electric vehicles (EVs) attractive to potential buyers is increasing range and reducing charging times. SiC MOSFETs enable unrivaled efficiency, better thermal performance, and higher power density in critical EV traction inverters as well as on-board chargers and DC-DC converters, not to mention charging infrastructure. Despite their recent commercialization, SiC products are already available in automotive-grade versions thanks to concerted efforts to raise quality levels to meet rigorous automotive market requirements. The latest STPOWER GEN3 SiC MOSFETs have achieved quality levels that are now close to conventional silicon, even while no real comparison can be made with SiC in terms of performance and efficiency.

Filippo Di Giovanni

STMicroelectronics

Filippo Di Giovanni is currently Strategic Marketing, Innovation and Key Programs Manager within the Power Transistor MACRO Division at ST, based in Catania, Italy. As Technical Marketing Manager, he helped to introduce the first strip-based MOSFETs, and at the end of the nineties, he coordinated the development of “Super-junction” highvoltage MOSFETs (MDmeshTM), a real breakthrough in silicon power semiconductors.In 2012, he was placed in charge of the development of the first 1,200V silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, which have enabled ST to become today undisputable market leader and one of the main suppliers in various fields of applications, including the growing EV (electrical vehicle) market.Dr. Di Giovanni’s experience also includes working on gallium nitride on silicon (GaNon-Si) HEMT for both power conversion and RF domains. Regularly invited to participate in various conferences and workshops dedicated to power conversion, he also coordinates European projects and is a key member of an ST workgroup handling the collaborative development of GaN-on-Si with ST’s important industry partners.