UK SiC fab to supply 650V MOSFET for electric vehicles
Raytheon UK's semiconductor business unit in Glenrothes, Scotland, has been selected by a leading automotive manufacturer to develop a 650V/60A SiC MOSFET for use in electric, hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
"The use of SiC overcomes many of the problems restricting the use of traditional silicon semiconductor devices, for certain applications, within electric vehicles and their hybrid derivatives, " said John Kennedy, head of Raytheon UK's Integrated Power Solutions. "The benefits of SiC include higher temperature operation, low switching losses and low parasitics "“ making possible the production of reliable, high power devices in small and lightweight packages that do not have the same cooling requirements as Silicon-based components."
Raytheon is Europe's only SiC production foundry backed by a team of engineers experienced in the fabrication of MOSFETs, Schottky barrier diodes and bipolar devices. Also, while well known for its technological capabilities in the defence and aerospace sectors, Raytheon has been active in the automotive industry for several years, supplying semiconductor devices for use in vehicle suspension system sensors, as employed by several well-known car manufacturers, since 1995.
Kennedy adds: "We were selected for this particular MOSFET project because of our SiC expertise, proven processes and project management skills, all of which combine to produce a reduced risk engagement for the customer. Moreover, we're an established fabricator of semiconductor devices for automotive power and control applications, using either SiC or traditional silicon."
