Why in News?
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi performed the groundbreaking ceremony for India’s first end-to-end silicon carbide semiconductor production plant on Saturday, November 1st.
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Prelims, Latest technologies and Related developments
Odisha’s First Compound Chip Unit
- Company and Location: The unit is being set up by SiCSem Private Limited in collaboration with Clas-SiC Wafer Fab Ltd., UK, in Info Valley, Bhubaneswar.
- Investment and Approval:
- The project was recently approved by the Union Cabinet.
- It involves an investment of Rs 2,067 crore.
- Employment Generation: The facility is expected to create around 5,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities.
- Production Capacity and Products:
- The compound semiconductor fab will manufacture Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices.
- It will have an annual capacity of 60,000 wafers and a packaging capacity of 96 million units.
- Proposed products will be used in missiles, defense equipment, electric vehicles (EVs), railways, fast chargers, data center racks, consumer appliances, and solar power inverters.
What are Silicon Carbide (SiC) Semiconductors?
Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a compound semiconductor material composed of silicon (Si) and carbon C.
It belongs to the family of Wide Bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, which are materials that require significantly more energy (a wider bandgap) to allow electrons to flow than traditional silicon.
Features of Silicon Carbide
| Feature | SiC Value | Compared to Silicon | Implication |
| Wide Bandgap | approx 3.2 eV | approx 3 times higher | Enables operation at higher voltages and higher temperatures. |
| High Critical Breakdown Field | approx 10 times higher | Withstands much higher voltages without dielectric breakdown. | |
| High Thermal Conductivity | approx 3.7 W/cm.K | approx 2.5 times better | Dissipates heat much more efficiently. |
| Maximum Operating Temperature | 200° C to 250° C | Significantly higher than 150°C for Silicon semiconductors. | Enhances reliability in harsh environments. |
| Exceptional Hardness | SiC has a Mohs hardness of 9.2-9.5, second only to diamond and boron nitride among common abrasives. | This allows it to effectively cut and grind extremely hard materials like ceramics, stone (granite, marble), glass, and cemented carbide. | |
| High Friability | The granular crystals are brittle and easily fracture under grinding stress. | This is a crucial feature: when a grain breaks, it constantly exposes new, sharp cutting edges (a process called “self-sharpening”), ensuring a fast and continuous material removal rate. | |
| Sharp Crystalline Structure | grains possess a sharp, angular, needle-like shape (especially green SiC). | This structure maximizes the cutting aggressiveness and allows for fast stock removal and fine surface finishing. | |
| Wear Resistance | Due to its hardness, it offers high resistance to wear and tear, ensuring a longer service life for abrasive tools. | This property also makes sintered SiC a premier material for wear-resistant parts like pump seals and nozzles. |
Applications of SiC semiconductors
- Electric Vehicles (EVs):
- Traction Inverters: Improves the efficiency of converting battery DC power to motor AC power, extending the vehicle’s driving range
- On-Board Chargers (OBCs) and DC Fast Chargers: Enables faster, more efficient charging
- Renewable Energy: Used in solar inverters and wind power converters to maximize energy conversion efficiency from DC to AC and manage high-voltage grid connections
- Power Supplies and Data Centers: High-efficiency power supplies (PSUs) for servers and data centers, reducing operational energy consumption and cooling costs
- Industrial Power: Motor drives, welding equipment, and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) requiring high-voltage and high-temperature operation.
- Aerospace and Defense: Used in radar, communication systems, and high-temperature electronics where high reliability and radiation hardness are essential.
Other Applications of Silicon Carbide
- Abrasive Tools: Sandpaper (especially for automotive finishing and stone), grinding wheels, cutting tools, honing stones, and abrasive belts
- Blasting Media: Used for sandblasting and surface treatment to efficiently remove rust, scale, and paint
- Advanced Ceramics: Sintered SiC is used to produce wear-resistant components like ballistic armor plates (ceramic inserts in bulletproof vests), bearings, and high-temperature furnace parts.
- Lapping and Polishing: Fine SiC powders are essential for precision lapping and polishing of hard materials, including optical glass, semiconductors, and metal alloys.
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