Semiconductors refer to materials with conductivity between conductors and insulators at room temperature. Semiconductor is a kind of material with controllable conductivity, ranging from insulator to conductor. From the perspective of science, technology and economic development, semiconductors affect people's daily work and life. It was not until the 1930s that this material was recognized by the academic community.
Semiconductors are used in integrated circuits, consumer electronics, communication systems, photovoltaic power generation, lighting applications, high-power power conversion and other fields.
1. Photovoltaic applications
The photovoltaic effect of semiconductor materials is the basic principle of solar cells. At present, the photovoltaic application of semiconductor materials has become a hot topic, and it is the fastest-growing and best developed clean energy market in the world. The main manufacturing materials of solar cells are semiconductor materials. The main standard for judging the quality of solar cells is the photoelectric conversion rate. The higher the photoelectric conversion rate, the higher the working efficiency of solar cells. Solar cells are divided into crystalline silicon solar cells, thin film cells and III-V compound cells according to the different semiconductor materials used.
2. Lighting applications
LED is a semiconductor light-emitting diode built on a semiconductor transistor. The semiconductor light source using LED technology is small in size, can realize planar packaging, has low calorific value when working, is energy-saving and efficient, has long product life, fast reaction speed, and is green, environmentally friendly and pollution-free. It can also be developed into light, thin and short products. Once it comes out, it quickly popularizes and becomes a new generation of high-quality lighting light source, It has been widely used in our lives. Such as traffic lights, backlights for electronic products, light sources for urban nightscape beautification, indoor lighting and other fields.
3. High power power conversion
The mutual conversion of alternating current and direct current is very important for the use of electrical appliances and is the necessary protection for electrical appliances. This requires a power conversion device. Silicon carbide has high breakdown voltage strength, wide band gap and high thermal conductivity. Therefore, SiC semiconductor devices are very suitable for applications with high power density and switching frequency. Power conversion devices are one of them. Another performance of silicon carbide components in high temperature, high pressure and high frequency makes it widely used in deep well drilling, inverters in power generation devices, energy converters of electric hybrid vehicles, traction power conversion of light rail trains and other fields. Due to the advantages of SiC itself and the industry's demand for lightweight and high conversion efficiency semiconductor materials at this stage, SiC will replace Si and become the most widely used semiconductor material.