Applications

Computing: Power Conversion

Schematic of a Typical Active PFC Boost Converter

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Efficiency comparison of PFC circuit with Si and SiC diodes. The efficiency of the circuit with single FET remains better than that with two FETs.

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Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices are widely used in Power Conversion applications such as AC/DC power supplies. Initially this was primarily in high performance products. Now with the demand for better efficiency SiC is making its way to standard products that are used in datacenters and off the shelf servers.

Organizations such as Climate Savers™, Energy Star™, and Greengrid™ are making energy efficiency a requirement rather than an option. SiC devices are becoming an easier choice for OEMs.

A typical application for SiC devices is in active power correction, especially in power supplies with a high output power rating typically used in Servers and Datacenters.

To get the best efficiency, a Power Factor Correction (PFC) design operating in a Continuous Conduction Mode will use a SiC Schottky diode.