1-phase string inverter solutions

Infineon provides semiconductor products for string inverters, like power transistors, gate drivers, current sensors, control, connectivity, and more

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Overview

Single-phase string inverters perform DC to AC power conversion on series-connected PV panels. The inverter optimizes the solar energy yield through maximum power point tracking (MPPT). While a secondary side provides AC compatibility with the local grid, grid synchronization, reactive power compensation, and anti-islanding functions. Infineon offers the key semiconductor components for highly efficient and reliable inverters. 

Benefits

  • One-stop-shop for semiconductors
  • Highly efficient power transistors
  • Tailored gate drivers (EiceDRIVER™)
  • Accurate current sensors (XENSIV™)
  • Powerful microcontrollers (XMC™)
  • Auxiliary supply (CoolSET™)
  • Wi-Fi & Bluetooth® ICs (AIROC™)
  • Robust digital isolators (ISOFACE™)
  • Wide range of memories (EXCELON™)
  • High quality and reliability
  • Designed for long life
  • Meets most demanding requirements

Block diagram

About

Product portfolio for 1-phase string inverters

Infineon offers a wide range of solutions for 1-phase string inverters – from power and sensing to control and connectivity. Usually, these inverters are convection cooled, which requires decent efficiency of power transistors at a reasonable BoM cost. Infineon’s discrete IGBTs, MOSFETs, CoolGaN™ HEMTs, CoolSiC™ MOSFETs, and CoolSiC™ Schottky diodes are preferred to achieve the best price-to-performance ratio.

All switches need a driver, and all drivers need to be controlled. We also offer the right EiceDRIVER™ gate driver and the XMC™ and PSoC™ microcontrollers for your inverter design. Finally, each functional block needs a sensor and auxiliary power supply, so here we offer our CoolSET™ integrated power stages and the TLI4971 and TLE4971 current sensors. A smart combination that is used to address connectivity is provided by the AIROC™ family, which offers standalone Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi in a single device. Additionally, EXCELON™ F-RAM enables memory extension and ISOFACE™ digital isolators provide robust wired communication paths.

Switches for 1-phase string inverters

Infineon's TRENCHSTOP™ IGBT and CoolMOS™ N-channel MOSFET products target a broad range of applications, meeting the most stringent application requirements with over two decades of success on the market. 

Meanwhile, our silicon carbide CoolSiC™ MOSFET technology opens up new era of flexibility for designers to harness never-seen-before levels of efficiency and reliability. This high-voltage CoolSiC™ MOSFET technology has also provided impressive improvements in reverse-recovery characteristics.  

On the other hand, Infineon’s CoolGaN™ is a highly efficient GaN (gallium nitride) transistor technology for power conversion in the voltage range up to 600 V. With extensive experience in the semiconductor market, Infineon’s GaN technology brought the e-mode concept to maturity with end-to-end production in high volumes. 

Explore Infineon's MOSFET portfolio
Explore Infineon's IGBT portfolio
EiceDRIVER™ gate driver ICs for 1-phase string inverters

The EiceDRIVER™ 2EDi dual-channel isolated product family of gate driver ICs is designed for robust operation in high-performance CoolMOS™, CoolSiC™, and OptiMOS™ MOSFET half-bridges. The products are used in primary- and secondary-side controlled hard- and soft-switching topologies. They are pivotal to optimizing power conversion efficiencies and ensuring a robust switched mode power supply operation under nominal and abnormal operations. Additionally, our EiceDRIVER™ gate driver family includes isolated gate driver ICs, level shift gate driver ICs, and low-side gate driver ICs optimized for IGBT discrete and modules in all applications. We offer features like desaturation detection (DESAT), active Miller clamp, short circuit clamping, overcurrent protection, undervoltage lockout (UVLO), slew rate control (SRC), two-level turn-off, soft shutdown, and galvanic isolation. These protection features are very important when driving IGBTs, especially for applications needing high reliability, like solar inverters, EV charging, energy storage, UPS, and more. 

Explore Infineon's gate driver portfolio
XENSIV™ current sensors for 1-phase string inverters

Infineon’s XENSIV™ family of high-precision coreless open-loop current sensors is less bulky and costs less compared to core-based current sensors. Based on Infineon’s precise and stable Hall effect current sensor IC technology, the current sensor analog output signal is highly linear over temperature and lifetime. Due to lacking an iron core or a flux concentrator, the sensor signal shows neither hysteresis nor does it suffer from saturation. The differential current sensor measurement with two Hall cells ensures high accuracy even in a noisy environment like crosstalk from adjacent current lines or magnetic stray fields. System designers can program the sensitivity of the sensor as well as the threshold levels of the two dedicated overcurrent signals and therefore adapt them to individual requirements without any external components. The contactless current sensor IC also provides a warning signal in case of an over- or undervoltage condition for the supply voltage.

Explore Infineon's current sensor portfolio
Industrial microcontrollers and auxiliary supply for string inverters

A microcontroller unit (MCU) contains a CPU, memory, and input/output peripherals on an IC chip and works as a standalone small computer. This allows for a reduction in power consumption, more compact designs, and cost savings. Additionally, microcontrollers can provide functional safety and security for embedded systems. Every microcontroller also requires power and Infineon’s CoolSET™ AC-DC integrated power stages are designed to offer additional protection to increase system robustness. To achieve fast start-up performance, the fifth-generation controller utilizes the high-voltage power supply integrated circuit together with an internal AC-DC switching regulator to operate the start-up sequence in a safe and rapid manner, which is commonly known as a cascode configuration.

Explore Infineon's microcontroller portfolio
Explore Infineon's aux. power supply IC portfolio
Memory and wireless connectivity for 1-phase string inverters

The EXCELON™ family of memory products from Infineon offers high energy efficiency, high density, and reliable data logging. Infineon's next-generation Ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM) memory delivers the industry’s lowest power mission-critical nonvolatile memory by combining ultra-low-power operation with high-speed interfaces, instant nonvolatility, and unlimited read/write cycle endurance.

Discover Infineon’s AIROC™ Wi-Fi & Bluetooth® combos portfolio which provides a broad family of secure, robust solutions that enable you to bring great products to market faster. AIROC™ Wi-Fi & Bluetooth® SoCs include on-chip MCUs, memory, and the networking protocols required for customers to easily create their own cloud-connected applications.

Explore Infineon's memory product portfolio
Explore Infineon's wireless connectivity portfolio

Product portfolio for 1-phase string inverters

Infineon offers a wide range of solutions for 1-phase string inverters – from power and sensing to control and connectivity. Usually, these inverters are convection cooled, which requires decent efficiency of power transistors at a reasonable BoM cost. Infineon’s discrete IGBTs, MOSFETs, CoolGaN™ HEMTs, CoolSiC™ MOSFETs, and CoolSiC™ Schottky diodes are preferred to achieve the best price-to-performance ratio.

All switches need a driver, and all drivers need to be controlled. We also offer the right EiceDRIVER™ gate driver and the XMC™ and PSoC™ microcontrollers for your inverter design. Finally, each functional block needs a sensor and auxiliary power supply, so here we offer our CoolSET™ integrated power stages and the TLI4971 and TLE4971 current sensors. A smart combination that is used to address connectivity is provided by the AIROC™ family, which offers standalone Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi in a single device. Additionally, EXCELON™ F-RAM enables memory extension and ISOFACE™ digital isolators provide robust wired communication paths.

Switches for 1-phase string inverters

Infineon's TRENCHSTOP™ IGBT and CoolMOS™ N-channel MOSFET products target a broad range of applications, meeting the most stringent application requirements with over two decades of success on the market. 

Meanwhile, our silicon carbide CoolSiC™ MOSFET technology opens up new era of flexibility for designers to harness never-seen-before levels of efficiency and reliability. This high-voltage CoolSiC™ MOSFET technology has also provided impressive improvements in reverse-recovery characteristics.  

On the other hand, Infineon’s CoolGaN™ is a highly efficient GaN (gallium nitride) transistor technology for power conversion in the voltage range up to 600 V. With extensive experience in the semiconductor market, Infineon’s GaN technology brought the e-mode concept to maturity with end-to-end production in high volumes. 

Explore Infineon's MOSFET portfolio
Explore Infineon's IGBT portfolio

EiceDRIVER™ gate driver ICs for 1-phase string inverters

The EiceDRIVER™ 2EDi dual-channel isolated product family of gate driver ICs is designed for robust operation in high-performance CoolMOS™, CoolSiC™, and OptiMOS™ MOSFET half-bridges. The products are used in primary- and secondary-side controlled hard- and soft-switching topologies. They are pivotal to optimizing power conversion efficiencies and ensuring a robust switched mode power supply operation under nominal and abnormal operations. Additionally, our EiceDRIVER™ gate driver family includes isolated gate driver ICs, level shift gate driver ICs, and low-side gate driver ICs optimized for IGBT discrete and modules in all applications. We offer features like desaturation detection (DESAT), active Miller clamp, short circuit clamping, overcurrent protection, undervoltage lockout (UVLO), slew rate control (SRC), two-level turn-off, soft shutdown, and galvanic isolation. These protection features are very important when driving IGBTs, especially for applications needing high reliability, like solar inverters, EV charging, energy storage, UPS, and more. 

Explore Infineon's gate driver portfolio

XENSIV™ current sensors for 1-phase string inverters

Infineon’s XENSIV™ family of high-precision coreless open-loop current sensors is less bulky and costs less compared to core-based current sensors. Based on Infineon’s precise and stable Hall effect current sensor IC technology, the current sensor analog output signal is highly linear over temperature and lifetime. Due to lacking an iron core or a flux concentrator, the sensor signal shows neither hysteresis nor does it suffer from saturation. The differential current sensor measurement with two Hall cells ensures high accuracy even in a noisy environment like crosstalk from adjacent current lines or magnetic stray fields. System designers can program the sensitivity of the sensor as well as the threshold levels of the two dedicated overcurrent signals and therefore adapt them to individual requirements without any external components. The contactless current sensor IC also provides a warning signal in case of an over- or undervoltage condition for the supply voltage.

Explore Infineon's current sensor portfolio

Industrial microcontrollers and auxiliary supply for string inverters

A microcontroller unit (MCU) contains a CPU, memory, and input/output peripherals on an IC chip and works as a standalone small computer. This allows for a reduction in power consumption, more compact designs, and cost savings. Additionally, microcontrollers can provide functional safety and security for embedded systems. Every microcontroller also requires power and Infineon’s CoolSET™ AC-DC integrated power stages are designed to offer additional protection to increase system robustness. To achieve fast start-up performance, the fifth-generation controller utilizes the high-voltage power supply integrated circuit together with an internal AC-DC switching regulator to operate the start-up sequence in a safe and rapid manner, which is commonly known as a cascode configuration.

Explore Infineon's microcontroller portfolio
Explore Infineon's aux. power supply IC portfolio

Memory and wireless connectivity for 1-phase string inverters

The EXCELON™ family of memory products from Infineon offers high energy efficiency, high density, and reliable data logging. Infineon's next-generation Ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM) memory delivers the industry’s lowest power mission-critical nonvolatile memory by combining ultra-low-power operation with high-speed interfaces, instant nonvolatility, and unlimited read/write cycle endurance.

Discover Infineon’s AIROC™ Wi-Fi & Bluetooth® combos portfolio which provides a broad family of secure, robust solutions that enable you to bring great products to market faster. AIROC™ Wi-Fi & Bluetooth® SoCs include on-chip MCUs, memory, and the networking protocols required for customers to easily create their own cloud-connected applications.

Explore Infineon's memory product portfolio
Explore Infineon's wireless connectivity portfolio

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