High Temperature, Silicon Carbide, Power Thyristor

	ARCHIVED - Data Not Current For Information Purposes Only Glenn Research Center 1991 Phase II High Temperature, Silicon Carbide, Power Thyristor Cree Research, Inc. Durham, NC
INNOVATION A process for producing high performance power Thyristors in Silicon Carbide (SiC) capable of operating at 350^oC	Micrograph of a 10 Amp 4H-SiC Power Thyristor
ACCOMPLISHMENTS Demonstrated the first power thyristor in SiC Fabricated high-performance Thyristors in SiC that passed 1000 hour test at 350^oC Operated SiC thyristors to temperatures as high as 500^oC Achieved world record SiC power level of 4.2 kilowatts	Micrograph of a 10 Amp 4H-SiC Power Thyristor
COMMERCIALIZATION Increased SiC material and device sales by >$3.8M Created 14 new jobs and saved existing jobs Initiated tremendous worldwide interest in the area of SiC power semiconductors, resulting in multi-$M programs in SiC MOSFETs for government and commercial labs Total market potential for SiC Power Thyristors would be >$200M	GOVERNMENT/SCIENCE APPLICATIONS Will be used in military electric vehicles, i.e., electric tanks, more-electric airplane, and shipboard power distribution Applicable for high temperature power conditioning in spacecraft and will reduce weight and size of spacecraft Can be used to replace Silicon power devices in power circuits for large electric vehicles and locomotives, and for solid state power distribution of electricity for utilities SiC Thyristors offer much lower switching losses than silicon devices in these applications. Potential power savings of >$1B/yr are possible
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