Recent advances and trend of HEV/EV-oriented power semiconductors - an overview

This study introduces the development advances and trend of power semiconductors used in hybrid and electric vehicles (HEV/EV). The status and forecast of power electronics' requirement in HEV/EV are discussed along with a review of the automotive standard of power semiconductor devices. The advances in automotive semiconductor technologies such as Si-based insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and freewheeling diode (FRD) and SiC-based metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) and Schottky barrier diode are presented. The advances in automotive semiconductor packaging technologies are illustrated from three considerations, which are the low inductance in high-power density packaging, lower thermal resistance designing, and advanced packaging technologies. The challenges and development trend of more reliable power semiconductors for HEV/EV are discussed. The challenges in Si devices are focused on power density, efficiency, reliability, and packages, while the high temperature and low inductances are the main challenges for SiC devices. Lastly, the development trend is discussed in terms of four aspects, the new generation Si IGBT for HEV/EV, such as recessed-emitter-trench, reverse-conduction-IGBT, and smart IGBT; next generation SiC MOSFET; new packaging technology and material, such as planar packaging.