China - Dongguan Tianyu Semiconductor Technology (Tianyu), the first SiC epitaxial wafer company in China, has started to expand its SiC epitaxial wafer business globally after the completion of three contracts prior to this in August 2012.

"The prospects of the SiC are bright," said Li Xiguang, GM of Tianyu. "SiC substrate is getting better, larger and cheaper; more attention is paid on this market. SiC device will show more competitiveness in the global market." SiC device will be netting a billion dollars in a decade according to a market analyst of Yole Developpement.

SiC epitaxial wafers are used in producing Schottky diodes, MOSFETs, JFETs, and BJTs over a wide voltage range and customized wafers for thyristors, GTOs and IGBTs over a wider voltage range for medium to very high voltage power conversion system applications.

These devices are used for energy efficient power electronic devices for numerous applications, such as air-conditioning, solar and wind turbine inverters, hybrid and electric vehicles, high speed trains, smart grids and high-voltage DC power transmission. SiC-based semiconductor devices can reduce energy losses and system size, leading to overall reduced system costs and enhanced reliability.