What is a power semiconductor?

People often confuse power devices and power semiconductors. In fact, power semiconductors include two parts: power devices and power ICs. Power devices are short for discrete power semiconductor devices, while power ICs combine power semiconductor discrete devices with drive/control/protection /Interface/Monitoring and other peripheral circuits are integrated.

All power semiconductor devices have the ability to handle high voltages and high currents, and are mainly used for power conversion and control circuits of power equipment with high power processing requirements, such as: frequency conversion, voltage conversion, current conversion, power management, voltage processing The range is from tens of V to several thousand V, and the current capability can reach up to several thousand A.


Early power semiconductors appeared in the form of discrete devices. In the 1950s, power diodes and power transistors appeared and were mainly used in industrial and power systems. Therefore, power semiconductors in those days were also called power electronic devices. From the 1960s to the 1970s, semiconductor power devices such as thyristors developed rapidly. At the end of the 1970s, planar power MOSFETs were developed. In the late 1980s, trench-type power MOSFETs and IGBTs were gradually introduced. At this time, diode and thyristor technology became more and more mature, and the added value gradually became lower. The production capacity of major international manufacturers began to shift to power semiconductor devices represented by power MOSFETs and IGBTs. With rapid transfer, power semiconductors have officially entered the era of electronic applications. Up to now, MOSFET and IGBT are still the most important power devices with the highest value content and high technical barriers. However, in recent years, organizations have constantly predicted that the third-generation semiconductor materials represented by SiC and GaN will stand on the mainstream stage of power semiconductors in the future.