Top 3 Trends Impacting the Global IGBT-Based Power Module Market until 2020, from Technavio

Technavio’s latest report on the global insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)-based power module marketprovides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline.

On the basis of application, the IGBT-based power modules have been divided into five segments – industrial motor drives, renewable energy, railroad traction, consumer appliances, and power supplies – with industrial motor drives being the highest revenue-generating segment. IGBT-based power modules are highly adopted in variable speed motor drives to provide dynamic range control. These power modules enable variable speed motor drives to perform motor power switching and amplification functions, which has increased their adoption among end-users. The market for IGBT-based power module is likely to gain traction in the coming years thanks to its high adoption in variable speed motor drives and industrial motor drives.

The top three emerging trends driving the global IGBT-based power module market according to Technavio hardware and semiconductor research analysts are:

• Increase in demand for electric and hybrid vehicles
• Increasing adoption of clean energy sources
• Increased demand for copper wire for interconnections

Increase in demand for electric and hybrid vehicles

The automotive industry has evolved tremendously where technology is concerned as the need for vehicle manufacturers to reduce cost and weight of vehicles while simultaneously improving performance is a trend in the market. An increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is observed. Besides, being lighter than their mechanical counterparts, EVs inherently have a faster response time. Such developments are being spurred by the growing use of HEVs globally.

Inverters are employed in EVs to manage the power of the vehicle and convert DC current to AC current to drive an AC appliance. Two thyristors, arranged in an input-commutated topology, are employed in the inverter. These thyristors are used as the power switching device of the inverter. High-power thyristors are also used in soft starters for electric motors in EVs. The devices employing such high-power thyristors have a high-efficiency coefficient.

According to Asif Gani, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on embedded systems, “The global HEV market is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 10% during the forecast period and the light-duty EV market sales to reach 2.7 million vehicles in 2016. Japan and the US are some of the key leading regions in this market. With the increasing number of HEVs and EVs used in many countries, the use of such high-power thyristors will rise and contribute to the growth of the market.”

Increasing adoption of clean energy sources

The growing focus on the development of low carbon societies has increased the usage of renewable sources of energy such as solar power and wind power. IGBTs' unique features, such as high rated current, low power loss, and robustness, have led to their large-scale use in renewable energy applications. For instance, the major applications of IGBTs in wind turbines are in adjustable speed motor drives. They are also used in power generation plants and circulation systems. The increased need for increased thermal capacity and power cycling capacity is also playing a significant role in driving the adoption of IGBT-based power modules for wind turbine applications. In addition, IGBTs are used in solar inverters to convert the solar panel output to AC voltage in solar power plants. Consequently, IGBT-based power module's low on-state voltage drop, superior on-state current density, and excellent forward and reverse blocking capabilities make them highly suitable for renewable energy applications.

Increased demand for copper wire for interconnections

With the increased need for high power ratings for electronic applications such as electric rail tractions and the wind power generators, power semiconductor vendors are increasingly using copper wire for interconnections. “The use of copper wire bonding for interconnections provides higher thermal conductivity, higher elastic modulus, higher melting temperature, and higher capacities than aluminum wire bonding for similar boundary conditions. This trend of using copper wire for interconnections will grow at a significant pace during the forecast period and have a positive effect on the growth of the IGBT-based power module market,” adds Asif.

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