Ideal Power Inc. announced the successful completion of its qualification of the Company’s second wafer fabrication supplier with high-volume production capability. This facility in Europe adds dual sourcing for wafer fabrication and will support future revenue growth, providing ample capacity to support anticipated customer demand over at least the next two to three years.
“We are delighted to announce this key milestone of qualifying a second high-volume wafer foundry to provide wafer fabrication for our products. This fab successfully completed a multi-wafer full process flow engineering run of double-sided B-TRAN™ wafers. By leveraging our proprietary and proven process flow, this foundry was able to produce functional, bidirectional devices on their initial run without the need for special equipment or capital investment,” said Dan Brdar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ideal Power.
European wafer fabrication supplier highlights:
- This supplier, along with our previously qualified wafer fabricator in Asia, provides dual sourcing for wafer fabrication in disparate geographies with no exposure to China or Taiwan to mitigate supply chain risk.
- Demonstrated expertise in commercial manufacturing of high power, bipolar devices such as IGBTs. This expertise provides proven process recipes, capability and equipment that can be readily used or adapted for B-TRAN™ double-sided wafer fabrication.
- Qualified manufacturer of semiconductor wafers to multiple Tier 1 automotive suppliers. This will help Ideal Power to attract and engage prospective automotive OEMs and Tier 1 automotive suppliers as customers.
- ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified to globally recognized standards for quality and environmental management systems.
Ideal Power’s patented semiconductor power switch, B-TRAN™, can reduce power losses by 50% or more over conventional power switches, depending on the application. B-TRAN™’s higher efficiency results in less heat being generated and therefore significantly lower thermal management requirements, requiring significantly smaller surface area to dissipate heat and giving rise to potentially smaller original equipment manufacturer products.
B-TRAN™ offers the industry’s only symmetric bidirectional operation, reducing the number of components required for an application by 75% compared to a conventional bidirectional switch utilizing IGBTs and diodes. This highly efficient and unique symmetric operation provides a strong competitive advantage in bidirectional applications, which are growing rapidly as transportation electrifies and power generation shifts to renewable energy coupled with energy storage.
Original – Ideal Power
