With strict regulations on carbon emissions and rapidly increasing demand for eco-friendly and renewable energy, silicon carbide (SiC) is growing into a huge market due to its advantages such as power efficiency, reduced operating costs, and reduced system size.

Wolfspeed, a global silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor company, successfully held the '2024 Wolfspeed Power Technical Roadshow Seoul' at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul on the 21st. Around 150 attendees filled the conference room.

This was an opportunity to introduce Wolfspeed SiC semiconductor solutions to domestic customers and engineers, and four sessions and a Q&A session were held. Application cases and characteristics, as well as advantages such as power efficiency and system area reduction compared to existing systems, were introduced.

Tony Chou, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Asia Pacific, said in his opening remarks, “Wolfspeed configures various applications based on SiC, including △vehicles, △charging, △energy, △solar power, and △data centers,” and “This seminar will provide an opportunity to think about what solutions and support can be provided in various business and professional fields with SiC, which has great advantages in power supply systems.”

In the first session, “The Future of Silicon Carbide,” Wolfspeed Director Lee Tae-hoon explained, “SiC is already being used in power supplies, and its use in power systems is increasing in areas such as gaming, data center servers and general servers, plasma generators, laser printers, and pumps.”

Wolfspeed emphasized that SiC-based power systems have particular advantages in power efficiency while also allowing for smaller system sizes.

“IGBTs still offer good performance, but it’s time to retire them,” said Guy Moxey, VP of Marketing, in the session “SiC Solutions for Motor & Motion and E-Mobility.” “Silicon carbide reduces power losses by about 70 percent compared to IGBTs and improves overall efficiency by 10 to 20 percent compared to silicon,” he said.
br /> Although SiC power semiconductors themselves are about $70 to $100 higher per system unit than existing Si-based power semiconductors, they are gaining attention, especially in the electric vehicle (EV) market, due to their advantages such as increased battery efficiency.

“As all industries, from the ground to the sky to the sea, adopt electrification and the use of motors is expected to increase, the role of SiC will become more important,” said Guy Moxie, Vice President.