SK considers additional investment in related companies
Hyundai Motor Company develops power efficiency improvement products
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Silicon carbide (SiC) is rapidly emerging as a wafer material for automobile power semiconductors. SiC power semiconductors are being adopted in electric vehicle parts one after another with the advantage of being more resistant to high voltage and high heat than silicon, and being effective in reducing parts weight.
According to the electronics industry on the 28th, SK Corp. is considering additional investments in Yes Power Technics, a SiC power semiconductor company. SK Co., Ltd. acquired a 33.6% stake by investing 26.8 billion won in Yes Power Technics earlier this year.
SiC is a material that the industry pays attention to to overcome the limitations of silicon, which cannot withstand high voltage and high heat in electric vehicles. Along with gallium nitride (GaN), it is also called a’wide bandgap’ material. The bandgap, an energy barrier that blocks electrons from moving, is more than three times higher than that of silicon. The higher the band gap, the stronger it is against high voltage and power. The advantage is that the dielectric breakdown field, which is a range in which the current can be controlled, is 10 times higher than that of silicon without losing semiconductor properties even at high temperatures. As the rated voltage increases, the size and weight of parts can be reduced.
In 2018, the market opened in earnest when Tesla installed the SiC power semiconductor of ST Microelectronics in the’Model 3’for the first time in the automotive industry. The weight of the inverter manufactured by Tesla using this is 4.8kg, less than half of the Nissan Leaf (11.15kg) released at the same time.
In the next two years, the market is growing so rapidly that more than 20 automobile companies have adopted SiC power semiconductors. According to market research firm Yole, the global electric vehicle SiC power semiconductor market is expected to grow by more than 30% on an annual average from $500 million in 2019 to $2.6 billion in 2025.
This is why domestic companies are rushing into this market. SK has announced that it will build a SiC semiconductor ecosystem that covers from wafer to manufacturing. SK Siltron, an SK affiliate, acquired the SiC wafer division from DuPont last year and became the only SiC wafer manufacturer in Korea. POSCO is also developing SiC wafers with the aim of commercialization this year. Hyundai Motors directly designs SiC power semiconductors and is entrusted with the foundry (consignment production of semiconductors). Inverter power modules installed in the recently unveiled’Ioniq 5’contain SiC semiconductors developed independently. Through this, power efficiency improved by 2-3% and mileage improved by 5%.
Reporter Lee Soo-bin [email protected]
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