Silicon carbide semiconductors in electromobility

Cologne. Silicon carbide semiconductors are considered a key technology for powerful and efficient electric cars. These are not particularly fast computing chips. Rather, their task is to switch large amounts of electrical power with as little loss as possible.

They are particularly important in the inverter, which converts the direct current from the battery into the alternating current required by the electric motor. The inconspicuous components determine how much energy actually reaches the wheels and how much of it is lost as heat.

Silicon carbide, or SiC for short, is a compound made of silicon and carbon. Although the material is also used in abrasives or high-performance ceramics, it can be processed into semiconductor components in a similar way to pure silicon. Its key advantage is the so-called wide band gap. In simple terms, it describes how much energy is necessary to make electrons move in the material and thus enable current to flow. For silicon it is around 1.1 electron volts, for SiC it is around 3.3 electron volts.