In the past few years, as new energy vehicles and the photovoltaic industry have been running wild, the market size of power semiconductors has grown against the trend of the overall decline in the semiconductor industry, and its performance is very impressive among a number of semiconductor companies. In addition, as the application areas of power semiconductors gradually expand, the demand for power semiconductor devices has also greatly increased, providing more market opportunities for domestic power semiconductor companies.
At the highly anticipated PCIM Asia 2024 exhibition, SUN.KING Semiconductor Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SUN.KING") has become the focus with its innovative technology and products. The automotive-grade HEEV packaged SiC modules and EVD packaged SiC modules exhibited at the exhibition not only demonstrate its leading position in technological innovation, but also show its huge potential and development prospects. At the conference, SUN.KING also officially released the 1200V/13mΩ SiC MOSFET chip, which became one of the highlights of the exhibition and won unanimous recognition and high praise from domestic and foreign industry experts and customers.
During the exhibition, "Inverter World" had the honor to interview Zhang Qiang, general manager of SUN.KING Semiconductor Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd., and had an in-depth understanding of the current situation and future development of SUN.KING Semiconductor.
Zhang Qiang, General Manager of SUN.KING Semiconductor Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd.
01
Self-developed SiC MOSFET chips, reaching the industry's first-class level
Since 2024, the SiC industry has continued the hot trend of 2023. Enterprises are busy with technology research and development, contract signing and cooperation, investment and financing, IPO, capacity construction, etc., and major manufacturers have frequently reported good news.
As a third-generation semiconductor material, silicon carbide (SiC) has the characteristics of high breakdown electric field, high saturated electron velocity, high thermal conductivity, high electron density and high mobility, and is suitable for manufacturing high-temperature, high-voltage, high-frequency and high-power devices. In Zhang Qiang's view, with the gradual increase in the global acceptance of electric vehicles, SiC will usher in a new growth opportunity in the next decade. Therefore, Suning faced the market demand for SiC and launched its self-developed 1200V/13mΩSiC MOSFET chip, committed to providing new automotive-grade SiC solutions for new energy vehicles and new energy power generation customers, as well as new energy power devices that pursue high efficiency.
SUN.KING SiC MOSFET chip
SUN.KING's self-developed silicon carbide (SiC) chip gives priority to reliability and adopts planar gate technology. In the on-resistance of 1200V SiC MOSFET chips, channel resistance accounts for an important proportion. Optimizing the cell size can effectively reduce the channel resistance, but excessive reduction of the cell size will affect the performance of the SiC MOSFET body diode due to reduced injection efficiency. Through the combination of theoretical and practical verification, SUN.KING's R&D personnel finally confirmed the optimal solution of channel resistance of SUN.KING's solution and launched the 1200V/13mΩ SiC MOSFET chip. The experimental results show that the on-resistance of this chip is very competitive in the full temperature range, and the influence of temperature on conduction is reduced. The switch test waveform shows that this chip has a smooth dynamic waveform in both opening and closing. In the short-circuit test under the 800V bus and recommended Vge working conditions, this chip can also withstand a short-circuit capacity of 3µs without failure.
"Due to excellent design and technology, our SiC MOSFET chip shows excellent static and dynamic characteristics under high-temperature working conditions, and has reached the industry's first-class level of 1200V/13mΩ." Zhang Qiang introduced that using this SiC MOSFET chip, SUN.KING has also launched multiple models of automotive-grade, high-performance HEEV packaging, and EVD packaging SiC modules. HEEV packaged and EVD packaged SiC modules adopt industry-leading design and packaging technology, have excellent heat dissipation performance, excellent reliability and robustness, and can cover the application requirements of mainstream electric vehicles from 100kW to 300kW, especially compact inverters for electric vehicles.
The SUN.KING i20 IGBT chips, ED packaged IGBT modules, ST packaged IGBT modules, BEVD packaged IGBT modules, EP packaged IGBT modules, as well as HEEV packaged SiC modules and EVD packaged SiC modules exhibited at the same time also attracted great attention from the participants.
02
Focus on cutting-edge applications and maintain the advancement of SiC technology
Relevant statistics show that in terms of silicon carbide semiconductor applications, more than 60% of the current demand comes from the field of new energy vehicles, including motor controllers and charging facilities; other application areas include photovoltaics, energy storage, industrial control, consumer electronics and medical equipment.
As the world's largest new energy vehicle market, China's domestic new energy development and growth are rapid, and will continue to grow rapidly in the future. The annual growth rate of SiC products for new energy vehicles is expected to be promising in the future. The new energy vehicle market has always been an area that SUN.KING attaches great importance to, and has been laid out for a long time. With the launch of HEEV packaged SiC modules and EVD packaged SiC modules, and the gradual mass production of self-developed SiC MOSFET chips, SUN.KING's product layout in the field of new energy vehicles is constantly improving.
Zhang Qiang said that SUN.KING is currently focusing on cutting-edge applications in the field of silicon carbide. SUN.KING hopes to have a certain degree of technological leadership when entering the track, just like silicon devices, rather than competing on price. Although silicon carbide has not yet been widely popularized, the competition is already extremely fierce, and this fierceness is more reflected in price. But in the automotive market, most customers still put quality and performance first.
SUN.KING Semiconductor is brave enough to be a "clear stream" in the industry, seize the high ground of new energy vehicles, and always adhere to the strategic policy of "not involution, be yourself". Zhang Qiang emphasized that due to the cyclical nature of the semiconductor market, there are shortages and oversupply, and the market supply and demand are unbalanced. As a domestic brand, SUN.KING hopes that in such a process, it can adapt to market prices and reflect its own level on the basis of ensuring quality and performance, rather than blindly participating in low-price competition. From the perspective of the terminal market, foreign brands still dominate the market, which also reflects that domestic chip manufacturers still have many unresolved pain points in terminal applications. Therefore, SUN.KING hopes to bring into play the technical advantages of chips and products in this field and achieve win-win results with downstream customers.
"In the past, many customers would first question the quality of domestic silicon carbide, especially in the fields of automobiles and high-speed rail. Downstream customers still prefer foreign brands. In this regard, SUN.KING will insist on maintaining the advanced technology and patience in the market. I believe that domestic brands will be recognized and adopted by more and more downstream customers." Zhang Qiang said that SUN.KING has also set the goal of "maintaining technological advantages in the field of silicon carbide and keeping up with international first-line manufacturers in technology."
03
IGBT continues to break through and launch more types of products
SUN.KING has a world-class team of technical experts with strong R&D capabilities and rich process experience. Its IGBT chips and module products have achieved outstanding performance that exceeds similar products at home and abroad in many key performances such as power density, comprehensive loss, reliability, and robustness, and are known as the representative of domestic high-quality IGBTs.
SUN.KING has also made continuous breakthroughs in the IGBT field this year. Mass production began in 2021. SUN.KING initially only made 1200V 250A and 1700V 200A products. Now the product range has been expanded to 1200V 200A, 150A, 100A and 1700V 150A, 100A, 50A (75A), greatly enriching the product range.
"Each packaging manufacturer has its own subdivided focus area, and SUN.KING focuses on application products of high-power devices. For these products within 100A, most of the customers are domestic packaging factories." Zhang Qiang said that after communicating with these customers, SUN.KING found that everyone's pain points were consistent with the equipment side, which is how to make the product performance better and reduce costs. In response to these two pain points, SUN.KING has established a good business relationship with chip customers and will launch more types of products in the future.
SUN.KING also launched the i23 generation IGBT chip this year, which can reach up to 300A. It is the chip with the largest output capacity on the market. It has entered the testing phase and is mainly used in photovoltaics, wind power, energy storage and other fields. The 300A chip is smaller in size and has better performance. On the same chip area, the output of 200A before can now be 300A, which can greatly reduce the terminal cost of customers. It is revealed that at the PCIM exhibition next year, SUN.KING is expected to extend its products from 300A to 50A. At that time, these products can not only cover industrial fields such as inverters, but also wind power, photovoltaics, energy storage and commercial electric vehicles.
Zhang Qiang emphasized in the interview that SUN.KING always puts the improvement of product technology first, and will strive to cover all products in the terminal application field in the future. This is also what SUN.KING will focus on in the next year.
04
Promote the process of domestic substitution, with chip technology as the core
As a pioneer in domestic technology research and development and innovation, SUN.KING stands out among many peers and quickly gains recognition from customers and the market. Zhang Qiang summarized the reasons for this in two key words: quality and technology.
Zhang Qiang pointed out that during the batch operation of products, reliability and safety are what customers care about most. Domestic customers prefer products from foreign companies because foreign companies can achieve the same product effects in large and small batches. "SUN.KING's core competitiveness in module products is quality. For example, our module products used in the energy storage field can be used by customers all the time, and SUN.KING's quality can stand the test." Zhang Qiang's words revealed confidence. Customers also value SUN.KING's "technology". SUN.KING always puts product technology first, and has achieved complete self-development from chip to module development. It has many patents and has formed its own system, which is also SUN.KING's advantage over its domestic peers.
It is understood that SUN.KING's factory builds production lines based on the most advanced international quality control concepts, automation levels and information standards. The products produced on this production line, from launch to batch supply, as well as the later application of the products, can reach the international leading quality level standards from the feedback of customer terminals. SUN.KING's module products have undergone strict quality control and precise production processes, which also makes the final product yield high and the product consistency good.
"Now the entire industry is very competitive. In the next few years, everyone will face a more brutal elimination competition. It is precisely because of the fierce competition that the Chinese companies that finally come out will be very competitive in the international market. "In Zhang Qiang's view, with the rapid application of new energy technologies, the replacement of imported devices by domestic devices in the future will be a long process. And in the next 5-10 years, after the process of survival of the fittest, six large-scale semiconductor companies dedicated to different fields will eventually emerge. And SUN.KING will also launch a new generation of IGBT products that are comparable to foreign brands in the fields of photovoltaics, energy storage, wind power, etc., hoping to promote the process of domestic substitution for imports.
At the end of the interview, Zhang Qiang said that in the future, SUN.KING will take chip technology as the core and tilt more resources and planning towards chips. At the same time, it will continue to provide better products and suitable prices for the domestic market. We are confident that SUN.KING will continue to forge ahead in the industry and become a leader in China's power semiconductors.
Source: "Inverter World"
