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As electric vehicles and renewable energy systems require power management solutions to improve performance and cost efficiency and speed up development time, Microchip Technology Inc of Chandler, Arizona, USA is working with Mersen of Courbois, France, a global supplier of power management. )cooperate. The 150kVA three-phase silicon carbide (SiC) power stack reference design provides solutions for industrial sectors including electric vehicles and energy storage.

Mersen's three-phase SiC power stack reference design provides system designers with a complete, compact, high-power silicon carbide solution without the need for separate procurement, testing and certification. The power stack reference design includes Microchip's silicon carbide power modules and digital gate drivers, and Mersen's bus bars, fuses, capacitors, and thermal management, which are optimized in a single high-performance stack reference design. Allegedly, with Microchip's 1200V MSCSM120AM042CD3AG SiC MOSFET and AgileSwitch 2ASC-12A1HP digital gate driver, the power stack reference design enables engineers to quickly develop high-voltage systems using pre-designed kits for their applications-reducing time to market by up to six months .

"Microchip customers will benefit from our cooperation with Mersen to provide silicon carbide MOSFET and digital gate driver solutions," said Leon Gross, vice president of Microchip's discrete product business unit. "When power inverter designers can purchase a proven solution, they can avoid purchasing individual parts and reduce risk through reliability-this helps avoid downtime. Designers now have an all-in-one evaluation system ."

The power pack reference design provides a power density of 16kW/L (kW/l) and a junction temperature (Tj) of up to 130°C, a peak efficiency of 98%, and a switching frequency of up to 20kHz. Utilizing Microchip's rugged SiC MOSFET and AgileSwitch family of configurable digital gate drivers, this reference design enables engineers to choose from 700V and 1200V options at currents up to 750A. Microchip also offers module structure options, including substrate materials, direct bond copper (DBC) ceramic materials, and chip mounting methods.

"Given the availability of highly robust silicon carbide MOSFETs and compatible digital gate drivers from a single source, we worked closely with Microchip to design and develop this silicon carbide power stack reference design," said Dr. Philippe Roussel, Executive Vice President of Global Strategic Marketing Mersen's experts. "Therefore, relying on our highly reliable series of busbars, capacitors, fuses, and cooling systems, we can prove that we are capable of optimizing any of our customers' inverter topologies. The versatile Microchip silicon carbide series also allows us to extend these main specifications To higher voltages, currents and switching frequencies to meet the needs of each customer’s operating point."

Microchip combines in-house silicon carbide chip production with its low-inductance power packaging and digital gate drivers, enabling designers to manufacture end products that are efficient, compact and reliable. The company said that these devices are combined with a comprehensive microcontroller (MCU), analog and MCU peripheral device portfolio, as well as communications, wireless, and security technologies to provide system designers for many applications with proven overall system solutions.

Microchip's AgileSwitch 2ASC-12A1HP 1200V dual-channel digital gate driver adopts enhanced switching technology, has passed production certification and is fully configurable. Microchip's Intelligent Configuration Tool (ICT) supports the AgileSwitch 2ASC-12A1HP gate driver and the next-generation 2ASC-12A2HP. This interface allows users to configure gate driver parameters, including gate switch configuration files, system key monitors, and controller interface settings. ICT can be downloaded for free, which can save development time.

Soitec and Mersen collaborate to develop polycrystalline silicon carbide substrates for the electric vehicle market

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