Introduction to IGBT Development and in EV Uses

IGBT is the core component of electric vehicles, and its applications include motor controllers, vehicle chargers, vehicle air conditioners, and DC charging piles for charging new energy vehicles. IGBT has seen significant growth in demand in new energy vehicles due to its advantages such as high operating frequency, high current performance, and low switching loss.

IGBT Technical Features

The technical advantages of IGBT are concentrated in low- and medium-power products, which have higher voltage and current processing capabilities and high current density, allowing them to have smaller sizes. In terms of performance improvement, they still increase the withstand voltage, current, power and maximum operating junction temperature. At the same time, it also has the following technical characteristics.

IGBT Products

1) IGBT Chips

IGBT chip is a composite fully controlled voltage-driven power chip composed of MOSFET and BJT. It has the advantages of easy driving of MOS, fast switching speed, small on-state voltage drop of BJT and large current carrying capacity. It is the core of energy conversion and transmission, which is suitable for various scenarios that require AC-DC power conversion and high & low voltage conversion.

2) FRED Chips

The FRED chip is a diode with a short reverse recovery time. It is mainly used in electronic circuits such as switching power supplies, frequency converters, and motor drives. As an important component of the IGBT power module, it has features of fast reverse recovery, low forward voltage, and high breakdown voltage.

3) IGBT Tube

IGBT single tube encapsulates a single IGBT chip and FRD chip on a copper frame in the form of a discrete transistor.

4) IGBT Module

The IGBT module is made by packaging multiple IGBT chips and FRD chips through specific circuits and bridges. It has the characteristics of high integration, high reliability, easy installation, and stable heat dissipation. And it is the core component of the new energy vehicle motor drive control system.

5) IPM Module

The IPM module integrates the IGBT chip, FRD chip, drive circuit, protection circuit, detection circuit, etc. into the same module. It realizes frequency conversion by adjusting the amplitude and frequency of the output alternating current to control the rotation speed of the electrode. It is a high-end device that integrates self-protection functions, and has the characteristics of small package size, strong anti-interference ability, and convenient application.

Since the development of IGBT, from the initial planar gate + punch-through (PT) to the latest technology micro-trench gate + field stop type (NPT-FS-Trench), IGBT has optimized at different levels from switching loss, current capability, chip structure, operating junction temperature, chip thickness. What’s more, the off-state voltage has been increased from 600V to 7000V, the turn-off time has been reduced from 0.5 microseconds to 0.12 microseconds, and the process line width has been reduced from 5um to 0.3um. In short, the improvement of these related technologies has enabled IGBT to develop towards miniaturization, high power and high reliability.

IGBT Uses in New-energy Vehicles

1. Why New-energy Vehicles Use IGBT Chips?

New energy vehicles use a battery to drive a motor to provide power output to the car, so there are scenarios where AC charges the car battery and the battery discharges to drive the motor to drive the car. Both processes need to be realized through circuits designed using IGBTs. That is, the technical level of IGBT affects the torque and maximum output power of the new energy vehicle drive system, etc.

When driving, the IGBT converts the DC power output by the battery into AC power and supplies it to the AC motor. At the same time, during this conversion process, the IGBT chip also needs to regulate the voltage of the entire vehicle in real time, acting as a transformer. In addition, IGBT is also the core power control device of new energy vehicles. For example, it can adjust the vehicle output power according to the throttle input and the state of the vehicle. Also, if you want to intelligently control the vehicle air conditioning system, you cannot do without it. Therefore, IGBT chips are indispensable electronic components in new energy vehicles.

2. Main Applications

The upstream and downstream of the IGBT industry chain have a strong connection with the product manufacturing process. The upstream is mainly design, chip manufacturing, and ceramic substrate manufacturing; the midstream is mainly the production of packaging shells, copper-clad ceramic substrates, heat dissipation base plates, and lead frames; the downstream is mainly module packaging and product testing. The terminal application market is mainly concentrated in white home appliances, rail transit, new energy vehicles, smart grids, etc.

Here is a detailed introduction to the field of electric vehicles. IGBT is mainly used in three major aspects: motor drive control system, vehicle air conditioning control system, and charging pile of electric vehicles.

1) Motor drive control system

The main function of the motor drive system in new energy vehicles is the conversion of energy, that is, from battery DC to motor AC or from motor AC to battery DC. Here the main power device used is IGBT.

As a power conversion device, IGBT is actually more commonly used for high-voltage power conversion. During the process, the battery voltage is generally above 200V, the overcurrent capacity is above 300A, the breakdown voltage of the power device is around 600-1200V, and the switching frequency is within 20KHZ. Therefore, IGBT modules can be used to achieve high voltage and large current conversion.

2) Control system of air conditioner

The working principle of the on-board air conditioner of an electric vehicle is the same as that of the electric drive, that is, after the DC power of the high-voltage battery is converted into AC power through an inverter, the air conditioner compressor motor is driven to work, but the power of the electric drive system is smaller compared to the same period. And the selection of breakdown voltage and rated current in the vehicle air conditioning control system is mainly achieved through IGBT.

3) Charging pile

There are two types of charging piles, DC and AC. Taking the DC charging pile as an example, its working principle is that one end of the charging pile is connected to the AC power grid. The AC power is converted into DC power through the rectifier power module, flows through the capacitor voltage stabilizing filter and is inverted into high-frequency AC power through the IGBT power module. Finally, the transformer is coupled, and the rectifier unit converts it into different DC voltage levels to charge different electric vehicles.

In electric vehicles, the electric drive system accounts for 15%-20% of the total vehicle cost, while the IGBT module accounts for 50% of the motor drive system. In other words, IGBT accounts for 7%-10% of the total vehicle cost. So it is the second most expensive component can be said to determine the energy efficiency of the entire vehicle. In addition, IGBT accounts for about 30% of the raw material cost of DC charging piles.

3) Market Development

Behind the explosive growth of new energy vehicles, we can see that the global shortage of power semiconductors has always existed, especially IGBT chips. According to data, the current IGBT shortage is basically more than 39 weeks, and the supply and demand gap has stretched to more than 50%. In addition, the supply cycle of some material numbers in the market remains at 52 weeks, with the longest being 54 weeks.

Due to the long verification cycle of automotive-grade IGBT modules and the high technical difficulty and reliability requirements of the production process, the IGBT industry is highly concentrated globally, with market shares concentrated in Infineon, ON Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, etc. Further more, among the top ten companies in the world's semiconductor power devices and modules, Japan has 5 companies, the U.S has 2 companies, Switzerland has 1 company, and China has 1 company. Although Germany only has 1 company in the top 10, its market sales rank No. 1 in the world, accounting for 19.7% of the global market share in 2021, more than twice the second-placed ON Semiconductor.

Global Competitive Landscape Analysis

The competitive landscape of the global IGBT market is relatively concentrated. According to statistics announced by various companies, in the global IGBT module market share rankings, the top three manufacturers in the world have more than 50% of the market share, among which Infineon ranks first with more than 30% of the market share, Mitsubishi and Fuji Electric follow. Due to the high technical barriers of semiconductor power devices and the company's leading advantage in core technology, the world's leading companies have monopolized the IGBT market. IGBT single tubes are mainly used in distributed photovoltaic inverters, low-power inverters, etc. For example, the global IGBT single tube competition pattern is represented by Infineon, Fuji Electric, and Mitsubishi Corporation, the second echelon is represented by ON Semiconductor, Toshiba, STMicroelectronics, and the third echelon is dominated by other small and medium-sized companies.

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