News
Overview
News
- January 20, 2012 - USCi to attend 2012 APEC Conference in Lake Buena Vista, FL - February 6-9, 2012
- January 19, 2012 - USCi to develop next generation SiC devices with AIXTRON SiC Planetary Reactor® technology
- January 2, 2012 - USCi awarded contract from NASA to develop Monolithic Silicon Carbide Active Pixel Sensors Array for Solar Blind UV Detection
- August 24, 2011 - USCi wins $750,000 Army Contract to Develop Gate Drivers for Silicon Carbide Power Transistors
- August 23, 2011 - USCi is awarded United States Patent for Solid State Disconnect Device
- July 11, 2011 - USCi is awarded a $1,000,000 Grant from the US Department of Energy
- September 27, 2010 - USCi wins $700,000 Contract from the Missile Defense Agency to develop Silicon Carbide DC-DC Converters
January 20, 2012 - USCi to attend 2012 APEC Conference in Lake Buena Vista, FL – February 6-9, 2012
United Silicon Carbide Inc. (USCi), based in Monmouth Junction, NJ, USA, is proud to announce its plans to attend the 2012 Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exhibition (APEC) in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Booth #112.
At the exhibition USCi will be showcasing its technology in the development and delivery of Silicon Carbide products used in power and energy sensitive applications.
Les Shirey, USCi’s VP of World Wide Sales said, “APEC is one of the leading shows in power electronics and we are excited to demonstrate our progress in the development of cost effective and innovative Silicon Carbide products”.
For more information on APEC visit http://www.apec-conf.org.
United Silicon Carbide, inc. is a semiconductor company specializing in the development of high efficiency Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices including Schottky Barrier Diodes, JFETs, BJTs, Solid State Circuit Breakers, Power Modules, and Custom SiC integrated circuits. USCi technology and products enable affordable power efficiency in key markets that will drive the new and greener economy. These include: wind and solar power generation, energy storage, electrification of transportation, emerging Smartgrid technologies that are adding intelligence to our power grid, motor control, and numerous other applications that require higher efficiency, compact designs, and demanding thermal constraints.
For more information on USCi, please visit USCi at www.UnitedSiC.com.
January 19, 2012 - USCi. to develop next generation SiC devices with AIXTRON SiC Planetary Reactor® technology
United Silicon Carbide Inc. (USCi), based in Monmouth Junction, NJ, USA, is developing the next generation of SiC devices utilizing the AIXTRON VP2400 Hot-Wall CVD tool. The order was placed in the fourth quarter of 2011 and is planned to be delivered in third quarter 2012.
Dr. Frank Wischmeyer, Vice President and Managing Director, AIXTRON AB, Sweden: “Our SiC Planetary Reactor® technology has continued to evolve over the past 10 years. Our extensive experience and know-how in the SiC deposition process is evident in the current design. AIXTRON is pleased to partner with United Silicon Carbide as they advance SiC materials into next generation devices.”
Dr. John Hostetler, Director of Engineering at USCi, comments: “Having evaluated the market for SiC epitaxy equipment, and based upon our success with merchant SiC epitaxy vendors utilizing similar tools, we have selected the AIXTRON VP2400HW system for the superior quality of both n- and p-type SiC epitaxial layers. The versatility of the 2400 system will enable USCi to rapidly develop novel device designs. The system’s ability to achieve high growth rates makes it an ideal platform to develop our next generation high voltage (5-15kV) SiC devices with thicknesses in excess of 100 microns. Aixtron planetary reactors are becoming the standard for high volume SiC device production and our ownership of a 2400 will greatly facilitate our production process transfer to our merchant epitaxial wafer partners.”
United Silicon Carbide, inc. is a semiconductor company specializing in the development of high efficiency Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices including Schottky Barrier Diodes, JFETs, BJTs, Solid State Circuit Breakers, Power Modules, and Custom SiC integrated circuits. USCi technology and products enable affordable power efficiency in key markets that will drive the new and greener economy. These include: wind and solar power generation, energy storage, electrification of transportation, emerging Smartgrid technologies that are adding intelligence to our power grid, motor control, and numerous other applications that require higher efficiency, compact designs, and demanding thermal constraints.
January 2, 2012 - USCi awarded contract from NASA to develop Monolithic Silicon Carbide Active Pixel Sensor Array for Solar Blind UV Detection
Monmouth Junction, NJ. - United Silicon Carbide, Inc. (USCi) was recently selected for a Phase I SBIR award to develop a unique monolithic SiC based active pixel image sensor. Solar-blind ultraviolet (UV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imaging is critically important in the fields of space astronomy, aircraft missile threat detection, and bio-chemistry. UV imaging arrays can capture unique target signatures, which provide critical information for solar blind imaging.
The high sensitivity of silicon CCDs and CMOS arrays in the visible and near infrared (IR) is a liability when employing these same arrays in the ultraviolet. Due to its large bandgap, SiC is ideal as a solar blind UV detector, and when integrated with SiC electronics forms a high temperature, radiation resistant UV image sensor. United Silicon Carbide’s sensor is an integrated active pixel sensor (APS) design based upon the company’s SiC Metal Semiconductor Metal photodetector and SiC MOSFET technologies.
“While the bulk of United Silicon Carbide’s business is centered on SiC devices for Power Electronics, we continue to see opportunities for SiC in other markets. These markets extend from High Temperature Electronics to the Optical Detectors developed within this most recent award from NASA. We continue to take pride in the fact that United Silicon Carbide continues to be the company to turn to for the development of these unique devices,” remarked Dr. J. Christopher Dries, USCi’s CEO.
August 24, 2011 - USCi wins $750,000 Army Contract to Develop Gate Drivers for Silicon Carbide Power Transistors
Various harsh environment applications, such as the propulsion systems of Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (HEV), space systems, and energy exploration applications, require compact and efficient electrical power systems with reduced cooling requirements. Power modules based on Silicon Carbide (SiC) are able to provide the required performance in these application areas due to the unique material properties of SiC. Gate drivers, used to control high power modules, need to be placed physically close to the power switches, where operation at elevated ambient temperatures above 200°C is required and a switching frequency of approximately 200kHz is desired to benefit from the capabilities of SiC power modules. Gate drivers based on silicon devices are generally not able to operate at temperatures above 150°C due to excessive junction leakage currents. United Silicon Carbide, Inc. (USCi) will fill the need for high temperature drive electronics by developing compact, high frequency, high temperature silicon carbide (SiC) gate driver modules to control high temperature SiC transistor power modules, capable of operation in the temperature range from -40°C to 200°C, based on our innovative SiC lateral JFET technology.
August 23, 2011 - USCi is awarded United States Patent for Solid State Disconnect Device
United Silicon Carbide, Inc. (USCi) was awarded United States Patent #8,004,806 for a novel solid state disconnect device. The device described in the patent and demonstrated in both 10kW and 100kW peak power units incorporate USCi's patented Silicon Carbide JFETs.
The extremely low on state resistance of USCi's SiC JFETs enables the devices to be used as a solid state fuse, with insertion losses less than 0.7% for 600V rated, 10kW units with trip times < 0.3 microseconds. Trip currents may be programmed internally, or externally controlled. For more information, please contact United Silicon Carbide at www.unitedsic.com.
July 11, 2011 - USCi is awarded a $1,000,000 Grant from the US Department of Energy
United Silicon Carbide, Inc. (USCi) was awarded a $1,000,000 Phase II grant to develop high temperature smart sensors for downhole logging and monitoring. This competitive award is being made based upon United Silicon Carbide's performance and design work during an initial Phase I program.
High-temperature smart sensors are desired for use in various harsh environment applications. Placing the sensing circuit close to the actual sensor would substantially reduce noise and interference problems and improve system reliability. If the circuits can operate at high temperature, this will reduce total system cost by removing the need for complicated cooling systems and will allow applications where cooling is not possible or practical. Electronic circuits based on silicon devices are generally not able to operate at high temperatures above 200°C because of excessive junction leakage currents, and even the most advanced silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices are limited to about 300°C.
United Silicon Carbide will solve these problems using its expertise in Junction Field Effect Transistors (JFETs) to develop a high temperature smart sensor for geothermal energy applications capable of operation up to 500°C. The system consists of the following circuits monolithically integrated on one chip: (i) a temperature sensing circuit based on SiC p-n diodes, (ii) a voltage reference circuit, using an operational amplifier and (iii) voltage-to-frequency converter circuit, using a Schmitt trigger. The inherent wide bandgap and excellent thermal properties available in the Silicon Carbide materials system enable very high temperature operation.
September 27, 2010 - USCi wins $700,000 Contract from the Missile Defense Agency to develop Silicon Carbide DC-DC Converters
The Missile Defense Agency has awarded United Silicon Carbide, Inc. (USCi) a $700,000 Contract to develop high power SiC based DC-DC converters for compact, high efficiency (> 97%), and high power applications in support of the ballistic missile defense program. These converters will be utilized in high efficiency radar and power distribution systems.
“The MDA’s continued support of our Silicon Carbide converter development is a testament to the progress we’ve made and suitability of Silicon Carbide JFETs for the demanding applications required by the MDA.” said Dr. Christopher Dries, President and CEO of United Silicon Carbide. “We look forward to demonstrating the most efficient SiC converter designed to date.”
