SiC Research and Development at United Silicon Carbide Inc.--Looking Beyond 650--1,200 V Diodes and Transistors [Happenings]

For over a decade now, silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes have been used in myriad highperformance power-conversion applications. Currently, the largest among these applications is power factor correction utilizing 650-V SiC Schottky diodes. The introduction of SiC transistor offerings at 1,200 V, beginning in 2010 with junction field-effect transistors (JFETs) and followed by SiC metal?oxide?semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and bipolar junction transistors in subsequent years, is simply the beginning of a wave of commercial devices of increasingly high voltage and current ratings. In this column, we describe the direction that United Silicon Carbide Inc. (USCi) is taking in advancing the state of the art of SiC devices following the introduction of our suite of 650- and 1,200-V diodes and JFETs to the marketplace in early 2014.