Recent Advances in Wide Bandgap Devices for Automotive Industry

The main barriers in the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) include limited autonomy, high up-front cost, low availability of charging infrastructure, and long charging time. Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors are key industry players in the electronics circuit design because they are advantageous in terms of high operating temperature, high efficiency, and low volume and weight. The WBG devices improve power density and allow power electronics (PE) circuits to reach operating points and temperatures that have not been considered before. Currently, SiC and GaN are the most viable WBG semiconductor candidates to replace Si-based devices. However, the cost, packaging limitations, reliability, safety, low manufacturing, and demand level of WBGs are issues that should be addressed; the integration of these devices into the automotive power electronic (APE) systems can then successfully be realized. This paper presents an industrial oriented overview of WBG power semiconductors including their advantages, recent progress, challenges, and development partnerships.