Before the video starts, let me ask you:
What do you think is the most important component in an electric vehicle?
Give you some options
1.Battery
2. Motor
3.Other components
I visually predict that more people will choose 2, so congratulations on your correct answer!
But the most core component in the motor, do you know what it is?
Well, it is the protagonist of our video in this issue – IGBT chip.
Introduction to IGBT
So who exactly is IGBT?
The so-called IGBT is an insulated gate bipolar transistor.
It is a composite fully controlled-voltage-driven power semiconductor device composed of BJT, which is a bipolar junction transistor, and MOS, which is an insulated gate field effect transistor.
Are you feeling a little dizzy?
First of all, Little Whale will give you some popular science about the classification of semiconductor devices.
It mainly has two classification methods, whether it is controllable and driving mode.
Whether it is controllable or not is further subdivided:
Uncontrollable type, that is, it cannot be controlled by a control signal, such as ordinary power diodes.
Semi-controlled type, that is, it can control the conduction, but cannot control the turn-off, such as ordinary thyristors.
Full control type, that is, it can control its on and off, such as IGBT.
In terms of driving methods, it is divided into current driving, which can ultimately control on and off by current signals, such as triode BJT.
Voltage drive means that it can ultimately be controlled on and off by voltage signals, such as IGBT.
Careful fans may have noticed that I mentioned earlier that IGBT is a transistor, so is it considered a chip?
Let’s take Huawei’s Kirin 990 5G chip as an example.
Its chip area is 113.31 square millimeters, and up to 10.3 billion transistors are integrated in such a small place.
It can be seen normally that the chip is composed of large-scale transistors, so strictly speaking, a single IGBT cannot be classified as a chip, but a power semiconductor device.
Nowadays, generally speaking, IGBT chips include IGBT power devices and many other things.
IGBT function
The main job of IGBT is to control and transmit electrical energy.
It can handle more than 6500W of power, and can achieve 100,000 current switching actions in just 1 second during operation.
Never underestimate this function!
The reason why current electric vehicles do not need to design complex mechanical systems such as engines and gearboxes is because of the existence of IGBT.
And IGBT chips, like the 7nm and 5nm integrated circuit chips we mention every day, are also key support projects of the national 02 special project. The 02 special project refers to the second among the country’s 16 major technological breakthrough projects during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period.
In other words, this chip is currently the most technologically advanced product in power electronic devices.
Take our commonly used computers as an example.
If a computer wants to do high-speed calculations, it needs a CPU.
Drivers like our high-speed rail or electric vehicles also need a device to convert current, and IGBT is a CPU that converts electric energy.
According to statistics, 60% of my country’s total power generation is used in various types of motors.
If IGBT devices are used to control the motor’s frequency and speed, the electric energy consumed by the motor can be saved by about 1/3, which can save 20% of the country’s total power generation, which is equivalent to the efficiency of five new Three Gorges Dams.
IGBT classification
According to the working voltage, IGBT modules are generally divided into three categories.
Low voltage below 600V
Medium voltage 600V-1200V
High voltage 1700V-6500V
Low-voltage IGBT modules are generally used in the fields of consumer electronics and automotive parts.
Medium-voltage IGBT modules are generally used in new energy vehicles, industrial control, household appliances and other fields.
High-voltage IGBT modules are generally used in rail transit, new energy power generation, smart grids and other fields.
In terms of electric vehicles, IGBT has become the bulk of the electric drive system of electric vehicles, directly accounting for half of the cost.
The electric drive system accounts for about 15-20% of the cost of the entire electric vehicle, which to some extent indicates that IGBT alone accounts for 7-10% of the cost of the entire vehicle.
Importance of IGBT
How important is IGBT?
To give a vivid metaphor, it is like the dormitory manager who is in charge of the power supply in your dormitory.
When to turn on the power, when to turn on the switch, the uncle is familiar with the road. The boss doesn’t care how much electricity you give. If you use electricity irregularly and secretly use high-power electrical appliances, there will be no discussion on reporting criticism.
Specifically, IGBT can directly control the conversion of DC and AC power. Determines the torque and maximum output power of the drive system. So the acceleration capability of your car, its top speed, and its energy efficiency all depend on it.
for example:
For example, on the electric car Tesla Model 3, the power source is densely packed batteries, which provide 400 volts of direct current.
The electric vehicle’s motor must use alternating current to rotate. By changing the frequency of the motor’s alternating current, the motor’s speed is changed to accurately control the vehicle’s driving speed and acceleration capability. This is all due to IGBT.
Another example is the high-speed rail.
During train operation, the speed must be increased from zero to more than 300 kilometers in a short period of time, or a high-speed train must be stopped smoothly in a very short period of time.
This seemingly simple acceleration and deceleration process requires the cooperation of a series of related transmission equipment, traction converters and other electric equipment. This requires ensuring that the current and voltage required by various devices are extremely accurate and reliable.
Under current technical conditions, only high-power IGBTs can meet this demanding requirement.
Moreover, during the deceleration process, through the action of IGBT, the energy generated by the train deceleration can also be converted into electrical energy and fed back to the power grid.
It can be said that the IGBT device is the “heart” of train operation.
IGBT R&D
So is it difficult to develop IGBT?
It’s the same as traditional mobile phone chip development.
The most important upstream industries of the IGBT industry include semiconductor materials, such as silicon wafers, photoresists, etc. And related equipment such as photolithography machines, etching machines, etc.
According to the chip manufacturing process, the IGBT industry can be divided into three links: chip design, wafer manufacturing, module packaging and testing.
However, compared with the manufacturing process and equipment of mobile phone chips, IGBT chips do not have such high requirements.
In addition, IGBT chips of different power levels also have different sizes. Generally speaking, the higher the power level, the larger the chip size will be.
Currently, the most competitive production lines for IGBT products are 8-inch and 12-inch.
The world’s leading manufacturer is Germany’s Infineon, which has mass-produced IGBT products on 12-inch production lines.
Most domestic wafer manufacturers are still at the 6-inch product stage. At present, Shenzhen BYD, Zhuzhou CRRC Times and Huahong Hongli have achieved mass production of 8-inch products in China. However, there is still a certain gap between its product yield and international leaders.
Finally, there are the downstream industries of the IGBT industry.
It includes a wide range of application market segments. IGBT has a large number of applications in industrial control, new energy vehicles, consumer electronics, power energy storage, rail transportation, household appliances and other fields.
IGBT domestic production situation
IGBT technology has long been monopolized by a handful of economically developed countries.
For example, the IGBT modules used in my country’s rolling stock are imported from Germany and Japan, especially high-grade IGBT devices.
In 2008, my country’s first high-speed rail, the Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway, was opened. Subsequently, more high-speed rail lines were opened, and the demand for IGBTs doubled.
An 8-train standard EMU requires 152 IGBT chips. The cost of this chip alone is as high as nearly 2 million yuan. Every year, China’s high-speed rail manufacturing needs to purchase more than 100,000 IGBT modules from abroad, with procurement funds exceeding 1.2 billion yuan.
In June 2014, after six years of unremitting efforts, the 8-inch IGBT chip independently developed by my country and with complete intellectual property rights was successfully rolled off the production line.
It breaks the history of large-scale semiconductors without independent chips and indicates that our high-speed rail has the first “Chinese core”.
Enlightenment
Finally, I want to say:
More than ten years ago, IGBT chips were basically dominated by Europe and Japan.
IGBTs for high-speed rail are monopolized by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan, and IGBTs for electric vehicles are monopolized by Infineon of Germany.
Nowadays, various domestic companies have begun to step up their own research and development of IGBT chips. Among the more famous ones are Shenzhen BYD, Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric, Hangzhou Silan Micro, etc.
Currently, Chinese standards account for 84% of the 254 important standards for high-speed EMUs involved in Fuxing.
The speed of high-speed rail depends entirely on the motor belt.
The heart of Fuxing is the traction motor. It has 1,152 IGBT chips, which can make high-speed trains run smoothly. Currently, Zhuzhou CRRC’s independently developed production line can produce 500,000 pieces per year.
The IGBT chips produced by CRRC can not only meet its own needs, but also meet the standards for export to foreign countries, and have also reached world-class levels.
It must be said that the significance of Chinese standards lies in the fact that every core breakthrough drives the upgrade of the entire system. The upgrade of each system will eventually make China’s manufacturing go global.
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