We’ve all been told to be more aware of our exposure to the sun…that the sun’s rays are damaging. So it’s weird, sort of, when you consider that for centuries, countless civilizations have looked to the sun as a symbol of power and strength.

We get a little excited about a renewed fascination with the sun because we see opportunity. Opportunity to harness the sun’s strength to power our electronics. And because solar panels themselves are pretty complex feats of engineering, that’s where we come in.

As solar panels become more and more commonplace, the design considerations for converting light into electricity must focus on increasing energy efficiency. At Cree, we like to think that we’ve become the “ray of solar power efficiency” through our development of the silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes that increase the conversion efficiency of solar energy.

Yes, we’re getting super technical, but this is actually pretty “hot” stuff.

First, let’s go through the basics: Solar panels are designed to absorb the sun’s energy and convert it to a positive DC voltage, which varies with the intensity of the sun’s rays to which the panels are exposed. That voltage is raised (or “boosted”) to a fixed DC voltage by means of a boost converter circuit either at the solar panel itself, or in the first phase of the power inverter, which takes the fixed DC voltage from the panel and converts it to a usable AC voltage at a fixed frequency. Conventional silicon Schottky diodes, when used for both the boost phase and in the inverter circuitry, typically contribute to an overall inverter efficiency of around 96 percent, due to a phenomenon known as switching loss (i.e., the circuit “wastes” about 4 percent of the energy produced by the solar panel in converting it to AC power).

Now that you’ve got that down…let us reiterate, conventional silicon diodes are 96 percent efficient. That’s pretty good, but…

If you use Cree’s SiC Schottky diodes, the inverter circuit operates at significantly higher frequencies, and virtually eliminates these diode switching losses, which has the effect of dramatically improving the overall inverter’s energy efficiency. This more efficient design enables more of the energy from the solar panels to get converted to usable electricity. With Cree SiC devices, the inverter’s average efficiency can be boosted by 2 percent, representing a 25 percent reduction in inverter losses. And when you’re making usable energy—every percent increase in efficiency counts.

So now you know enough be a little dangerous about solar panels and Schottky diodes. But don’t forget your sunscreen because while more sunlight makes a happy solar panel, it can also make for miserable sunburn.