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Wolfspeed Introduces Gen 5 SiC MOSFETs with Industry-Leading Low RDS(ON)

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In a PCIM Europe 2026 interview, Power Electronics News Editor-in-Chief Aalyia Shaukat spoke with Dr. Peter Wawer, Division President of Green Industrial Power at Infineon Technologies, about critical grid resilience and semiconductor innovations. Regarding the April 2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout that affected tens of millions, Dr. Wawer emphasized the importance of investing in resilient critical infrastructure, noting that multiple issues likely caused the outage, highlighting the need for grid stability investments. Addressing the dual challenge of renewable energy intermittency and surging AI data center demand, Dr. Wawer explained that semiconductors are central to the solution. Increasing renewables raises semiconductor content, but creates grid challenges due to time-dependent generation (e.g., "Dunkelflaute" periods of no sun or wind). Storage systems like batteries help bridge gaps. Future grids require bidirectionality and "prosumers" — households or businesses that both consume and feed energy. Semiconductors are needed everywhere in this evolving grid. Infineon announced a collaboration with Siemens to develop solid-state circuit breakers (SSCBs) for DC grids. The push for DC grids is driven by AI data center architecture, expected to shift to 800V DC supply later this decade. SSCBs, using semiconductors, can interrupt faults three orders of magnitude faster than electromechanical breakers, offering critical protection. Infineon's CoolSiC JFET family targets SSCBs. Unlike MOSFETs, JFETs are normally-on devices that only switch off during faults, making them cost-effective and preferred for SSCB applications. Infineon is expanding its JFET product portfolio across voltage classes and packages. On packaging innovations like .XT diffusion soldering, advanced ceramics, and direct liquid cooling, Dr. Wawer noted these are building blocks for high-ruggedness applications requiring temperature and power cycling resilience, while cost-driven applications use standard technologies.