Renewable energy technology must make significant strides to meet aggressive decarbonization goals set by government agencies. At the heart of this transformation will be continued developments in the semiconductor industry to further efficiencies that have slowed down after decades of growth. Renewable energy semiconductor manufacturing has several hurdles to overcome soon to meet domestic and global energy demands. Still, continued innovation will help close the gap while driving the industry forward.
| Semiconductor Products and Applications by Material | |
|---|---|
| Photovoltaics | Solar cells |
| Wide Bandgap (SiC and GaN) | Power electronics, renewable energy grid, electric transport, electrified industrial equipment, electric vehicles |
| Conventional (silicon-based) | Electronic appliances (computers, consumer devices), automotive (sensors, controllers, etc.), building electronics, communications |
Improving Silicon-Based Semiconductor Technology
Semiconductor devices are instrumental in maintaining and expanding the renewable energy network, supplementing fossil fuel sources. The advantage of semiconductor devices is the low energy loss in transmission and storage compared to other historical methods. Material properties, like the photoelectric effect, allow for the direct generation of electric current from incident light sources without waste or byproducts during energy transformation. Recent and substantial government investments in the US semiconductor industry underscore the importance of the continued development of the technology advancements necessary to overcome current physical bottlenecks with semiconductor manufacturing.
The biggest looming issue is the energy efficiency of current-generation semiconductor devices. Historically, semiconductor manufacturers relied on Moore’s Law to account for the shrinkage of transistor technology, which ushered in improved processing power per silicon die area. This observed phenomenon has not only slowed in recent years, but the current energy consumption of semiconductor devices in the renewable energy sector means that energy production gained has become far more incremental with each new generation of semiconductor technology due to rising increases in consumption. A viable path forward for complete enmeshment of semiconductors into the electrical grid may require a thousand-fold increase in energy efficiency above current semiconductor capabilities.
Achieving this level of performance gain would be no small feat; strategic research into increasing efficiency focuses on some of the following areas:
- Energy lost to memory storage transfer – Lower resistance contact materials could reduce the power dissipated through the interconnect.
- Atomically precise doping – Conventional chemical methods of catalyzation for dopants exhibit some randomness in size and lattice position.
- Neuromorphic design – Architecture based on the human brain is incredibly energy efficient in structure and function.
- Heterogeneous integration – A combination of multiple chips, chiplets, and chip components within a single package that, unlike system-on-chip (SoC) technology, can merge dies from different process nodes or functions. This method of diverse package integration requires advanced chip-building architectures like system-in-package (SiPs), multi-chip modules (MCMs), stacked dies (i.e., 3D-ICs), and other cutting-edge approaches.
- Computing algorithm improvements – New adjustments to traditional algorithm schemes will more closely adhere to naturally observed networks.
Renewable Energy Semiconductor Manufacturing Material Innovations
Alternatives to silicon-dominated semiconductors are also gaining traction, although current manufacturing practices make them prohibitively expensive compared to their better-known materials. Unlike conventional semiconductors (traditionally, silicon-based, although alternatives exist and continue to proliferate), wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors have a much higher bandgap between their conducting and valence bands (usually 2-3x that of silicon-based semiconductors). While the larger bandgap means charge carriers need more energy to move between bands, it also means WBGs can operate at higher temperatures as they can resist the effects of thermal energy absorption (which causes electrons to move up the bandgap randomly and uncontrollably). WBGs can operate at temperatures up to 3x that of traditional silicon semiconductors; this makes them excellent candidates for switching high voltages at grid-level power conversion applications and allows greater die power density.
More specifically, silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) have emerged as the primary WBG materials. Gallium nitride has more limited power applications than SiC as it operates at sub-kilovolt potentials. However, even within this range, there are still tremendous amounts of renewable energy applications, namely electric vehicle (EV) batteries, at the higher end of the voltage scale. Further efforts to ruggedize SiC through thick epitaxy wafer technology promise higher potential ratings for SiC semiconductors that benefit wind power generators and high-voltage direct current applications requiring kilovolt ratings in the hundreds. As manufacturing technology continues to mature in the coming years and related renewable energy sectors look for alternatives to traditional silicon semiconductors’ current temperature and power density limits, WBG semiconductors will develop a more significant portion of the overall semiconductor market.
Your Contract Manufacturer Can Power Semiconductor Technology
Renewable energy semiconductor manufacturing is facing exceptional challenges in the decades to come as governments look to corral greenhouse gas emissions with minimal impact on energy generation. However, even the near future holds promise with continued innovation (specifically WBG semiconductor devices) that will improve efficiency massively over modern silicon-based technologies. For designers at the forefront of the energy revolution, VSE is here to help. At VSE, we’re a team of engineers committed to building electronics for our customers, including the equipment and systems necessary for semiconductor manufacturing processes. We’ve been realizing life-changing and life-saving designs for over forty years with our valued manufacturing partners.
