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Siltronic AG plans to gradually cease production of polished and epitaxial small diameter wafers at its Burghausen site. The process, which excludes unpolished wafers, is set to be completed in the course of 2025.
Siltronic currently produces wafers with a diameter of 300 mm, 200 mm and wafers with smaller diameters (SD) of up to 150 mm. The SD wafer technology was developed primarily in the 1990s and earlier. The most significant technological breakthroughs in recent decades have been achieved with larger diameters, which also show the highest growth potential. An average volume growth of 6 percent per year is expected for 300 mm wafers.
“SD wafer production at Siltronic originated in Burghausen in 1968. It has contributed to our success for many years, thanks to the outstanding work of our employees. However, the wafer industry has evolved significantly due to structural changes and innovations. Demand has increasingly shifted to wafers with larger diameters and improved properties, while SD wafers are approaching the end of their life cycle. This has led to a notable decline in volumes, which recently had a negative impact on earnings. As this will likely continue to intensify in the coming years, we have decided, together with the Supervisory Board, to gradually reduce the production of small diameters and to cease it in the course of 2025,” comments Dr. Michael Heckmeier, CEO of Siltronic AG.
“Despite this decision the Burghausen site remains of crucial importance for Siltronic. Our global technology as well as research and development center, the production of 300 mm wafers and 200 mm hyperpure silicon ingots as well as a large part of our administrative functions are located here,” Michael Heckmeier continues.
Just 25 years ago, more than half of the silicon wafer market consisted of wafers with a diameter of up to 150 mm. Today, it is less than five percent, based on data published by the industry organization SEMI. This is the result of customers reducing or ceasing their production of small wafers due to the dynamic technological developments in the semiconductor industry. In addition, competition, particularly from China, is now clearly felt in the small diameters.
In the past financial year, SD wafers accounted for a single-digit percentage of the Group’s sales. The impact on earnings has already been clearly negative in recent months. Approximately 400 people are employed in the small diameters, about half of whom are on fixed-term and temporary contracts. The aim is to reduce the core workforce in a socially responsible manner through demographic change and partial retirement, and to avoid layoffs for operational reasons.
“Due to structural changes in the market, we assume that SD wafers will not recover and that their impact on earnings would be considerably negative in the coming years. We have therefore decided to take this difficult but necessary step. At the same time, our goal is to ensure that workforce reductions at Siltronic are socially responsible and no layoffs are made for operational reasons. After the end of the SD wafer production and the subsequent dismantling measures that may be necessary, our EBITDA margin will improve by around one to two percentage points in the medium term,” adds Claudia Schmitt, CFO of Siltronic AG.
Original – Siltronic
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GlobalWafers has been responding to the challenges of global climate risks by dedicating to environmental sustainability in its manufacturing processes, renewable energy adoption and business strategies.
GlobalWafers took the initiative in 2021 and committed to 100% renewable energy usage by 2050 in its global operations, and formally joined RE100 initiative in 2022 to reaffirm its determination to sustainable operation. As one of the very few semiconductor manufacturers that owns its solar power plants, GlobalWafers actively invests solar power plants to gain more flexibility and advantages in energy use, such as reducing carbon emissions, enhancing operational resilience, and meeting regulatory requirements more effectively. While the demand for clean energy continues to grow, GlobalWafers looks forward to positioning itself for long-term success in a rapidly evolving market.
GlobalWafers’ commitment to green wafer manufacturing is exemplified by its operation sites in Denmark and Italy. GlobalWafers’ Danish site, Topsil, is poised to become the first semiconductor crystal manufacturing site to utilize its own installed 100% green electricity during 2H of 2024.
By constructing a new solar park with an estimated capacity of 10.2MW, the power plant is expected to generate 9,500,000 kWh per year. Accordingly, Topsil is set to produce more electricity than it consumes, marking a significant milestone in GlobalWafers’ green manufacturing process.
Besides, GlobalWafers’ Italian site, MEMC Electronic Materials S.p.A., is also expected to reach 100% green electricity usage in the 12” new line during the capacity ramp-up stage in 2025. Leveraging power purchase agreements, installation of solar panels, and actively exploring alternative clean energy sources, the Italian site demonstrates GlobalWafers’ multifaceted approach to achieving its RE100 target.
With its global presence, GlobalWafers emphasizes local supply to minimize transportation distances, consequently reducing the carbon footprint and the potential impact of carbon tariffs, while also mitigating geopolitical risks. In a proactive move, GlobalWafers has implemented Internal Carbon Pricing mechanism, urging each site to consider the environmental impact of its operations. By accounting for the true cost of carbon emissions, GlobalWafers aims to foster a culture of informed decision-making that prioritizes sustainability.
To showcase solidarity with global transition towards net zero emission, GlobalWafers participates in the “Earth Hour 60” initiative again this year with affiliated group companies. On March 23rd at 8:30 pm, GlobalWafers’ Taiwan sites will switch off unnecessary lights and power-consuming equipment for one hour. This symbolic gesture underscores the GlobalWafers continuous commitment to energy conservation and carbon reduction.
As the world grapples with the challenges of climate change, GlobalWafers, as a long-term partner of its customers, not only actively considers implementing SBTi, but also remains steadfast in its pursuit of a sustainable environment. By embracing renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions, and strengthening green wafer manufacturing, GlobalWafers is leading the charge towards a greener, more sustainable future.
Original – GlobalWafers
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Innoscience Technology firmly denounces the accusations made by Infineon Technologies Austria AG in a recent patent infringement lawsuit against three Innoscience entities. Infineon filed this lawsuit in a U.S. district court in California on March 13, 2024, and asserted a single U.S. patent.
Innoscience denies Infineon’s allegations of patent infringement as well as the validity of the Infineon patent. Innoscience will vigorously defend itself and is confident that it will prevail. Infineon’s intention with this litigation is also in question, as it has asserted a patent that has significant defects. Particularly, even a cursory review of Infineon’s patent portfolio reveals that the alleged “invention” of the asserted patent was already disclosed in Infineon’s own earlier prior art patents, raising concerns that it may have committed fraud on the United States Patent and Trademark Office, for not making proper disclosures during the prosecution of the asserted defective patent.
In addition, contrary to Infineon’s wrong characterization that the claims of the asserted defective patent “cover core aspects of GaN power semiconductors,” the lawsuit only concerns a small fraction of Innoscience’s packaged high-voltage (650V-700V) GaN transistors and does not affect the vast majority of its other products (including unpackaged transistors and wafers, low-voltage transistors, and certain packaged transistors).
Therefore, the lawsuit should have little to no effect on Innoscience’s current ability to make, use, sell, offer to sell, or import into the United States its products for customers. Innoscience respects others’ valid IP rights and is also dedicated to developing its own IP portfolio. Despite being an eight-year old company, Innoscience has filed more than 800 patent applications globally. Innoscience’s R&D team boasts 500+ technical experts across the world.
Through continuing innovation, Innoscience has produced GaN devices to power a diverse range of products, from power delivery chargers to data centers and smartphones, showcasing its ability to align with evolving application demands and adapt to diverse customer specifications.
Moreover, Innoscience has always sought a cooperative and mutually beneficial approach to develop the global GaN industry, even among others in the same industry. Innoscience intends to prevail in this pending lawsuit and is determined to remain a trusted and reliable partner for its customers and contribute to their success by offering top-notch and versatile products and solutions based on Innoscience’s home-grown, superior technologies.
Original – Innoscience Technology
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STMicroelectronics announced a collaboration with Compuware Technology Inc, (Compuware), a leading provider of high-efficiency power supplies, on a reference design for server power using ST’s industry-leading silicon carbide (SiC), galvanic isolation, and microcontroller technologies. This reference design provides unparalleled power-supply options for digital power converter applications including server, datacenter and telecom power.
As demand for digital services continues to grow, fueled by Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G, and the Internet of Things (IoT), keeping power usage under control is an important piece of the sustainability puzzle for data centers. The STDES-3KWTLCP reference design is perfect for a 3kW and higher wattage CRPS (Common Redundancy Power Supply) server power supply. This technical advancement comes with superior efficiency, faster switching, reduced energy losses, and better thermal management capabilities. In addition, this total system solution shortens time-to-market.
Compuware stands as a global power supply leader, holding the world record for the highest number of 80 PLUS Titanium certifications, ensuring unparalleled power efficiency. Engineered for excellence, Compuware power solutions are the ideal choice for HPC, AI, Deep Learning, Cloud, and advanced applications. With high power density, it optimizes space usage without compromising reliability and efficiency, setting a new performance standard in demanding computing environments.
“Combining ST’s latest SiC MOSFET, galvanic isolation, and microcontroller technologies with Compuware’s leading-edge power energy expertise is helping Compuware unleash our design creativity to develop high-density and -efficiency solutions. Now we can achieve 89W/in.3 power density, a small size, and high power output, this reference design is a great choice for power-hungry, high-performance computing applications,” according to Robin Cheng, Vice President at Compuware.
“With a focus on the Industrial market, ST’s Power & Energy Competence Center provides low-power, mid-power, and high-power solutions with the most advanced ST technologies to our customers, and this reference design- STDES-3KWTLCP can help our customers increase energy efficiency and reduce time-to-market using ST’s efficient and reliable power solutions,” said Eric Chou, Head of Power & Energy Competence Center at STMicroelectronics.
Original – STMicroelectronics
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Heraeus is making a multi-million-euro investment in Compound Semiconductor (Xiamen) Technology Co. (CSMH), a China-headquartered material supplier of premium industrial diamond. This strategic partnership aims to drive innovations in the semiconductor industry by leveraging diamond’s unique thermal conductivity and electrical insulation properties.
Heraeus signed an investment agreement with CSMH and the deal is expected to close in several weeks. As part of the agreement, Heraeus will hold a stake in the company and receive a seat on the board of directors.
Single-crystal diamond is ultra-wideband gap (UWBG) semiconductor material with the highest known thermal conductivity, surpassing existing thermal solutions such as copper by several times. Typical silicon has a thermal conductivity around 140 W/(m-K), copper is about 400 W/(m-K), and diamond has a much higher thermal conductivity up to 2200 W/(m-K). This allows heat to be dissipated more efficiently, enabling high-performance components to endure with maximum efficiency.
In addition to its superior heat dissipation properties, diamond also withstands extremely high voltages without causing an electric breakdown. This is critical for advancing miniaturization, efficiency, and robustness in power electronics.
“This investment reinforces Heraeus’ commitment to cutting-edge material start-ups and emphasizes its strategic focus on the semiconductor market. With CSMH’s outstanding diamond wafer technologies, we expect to set new standards to accelerate AI and cloud computing, as well as revolutionize inverter architecture for EVs,” said Dr. Steffen Metzger, member of the Heraeus Executive Board.
CSMH’s core business includes the production of polycrystalline and large-sized monocrystalline diamonds, which are particularly important for high-end applications in the semiconductor industry. With already 40 patents – consisting of 23 invention patents and 17 utility models – the company has successfully established itself as an innovator and technical specialist.
“We are very excited to partner with a global industry leader like Heraeus to realize our vision to be the world’s advanced compound semiconductor material provider. Being coined as ‘the ultimate semiconductor’, diamond has many excellent performance parameters such as high pressure resistance, large radio frequency, and high-temperature resistance,” noted Zhang Xing, CEO of CSMH. “The expertise that Heraeus has in global market resources, technology insights, and industrial-scale production of advanced materials will empower CSMH to promote diamond for more applications in the near future.”
Due to its exceptional physical and chemical properties, diamond’s other prominent application includes quantum sensors, optics/detection and high-power lasers, among others. CSMH’s target customers include major players in aerospace, power electronics, optical communication, Artificial Intelligence, photovoltaics, electric vehicles, and sensors.
Industrial diamonds can be produced in a matter of weeks, at a lower cost and with greater environmental friendliness. The cooperation with CSMH aligns with Heraeus’ vision of co-developing next-generation semiconductor solutions and preparing them for use. The combination of CSMH’s specialized expertise in diamond materials and Heraeus’ global market access promises a successful expansion into international markets.
Original – Heraeus
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LATEST NEWS / SiC / WBGAxcelis Technologies to Deliver Purion M™ SiC Implanters to Several Power Device Chipmakers in China
March 20, 2024
2 Min ReadAxcelis Technologies, Inc. announced multiple shipments of the Company’s Purion M™ SiC medium current implanter to several leading power device chipmakers located in China. The systems, which shipped in the first quarter, will be used for 150mm production of silicon carbide power devices supporting automotive, industrial, energy, and other power intensive applications.
President and CEO, Russell Low commented, “We look forward to supporting our customers as they expand their manufacturing capabilities in this growing silicon carbide power device segment. To meet market demand, chipmakers need to maximize their yield and add capacity, while meeting a range of technical challenges unique to power devices. The Purion M SiC Power Series platform’s common and flexible architecture, coupled with its uniquely differentiated high temperature capability, makes it ideally suited for this expanding application.”
Executive Vice President of Marketing and Applications, Greg Redinbo added “The Purion M SiC tool provides customers an implanter with a broad dose and energy range perfect for the early phases of a fab production ramp. The Purion M SiC sets the stage for the future introduction of the Purion H200™ SiC and Purion XE™ SiC. Use of the full Purion Power Series family enables higher fab productivity, lower cost of ownership and the ability to manufacture more advanced silicon carbide power devices.”
Original – Axcelis Technologies
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Recently the European Space Agency (ESA) started its search for the technological advantage to improve their systems. Lead by research fellow Dr. Antxon Arrizabalaga, the project is aimed at studying the latest semiconductor technologies and exploring the impact they can have in the future of the space industry.
During its research, Dr. Antxon Arrizabalaga is looking forward to answer the following questions:
- Which are the next system-level figures the space power industry wants to achieve?
- Can the wide bandgap semiconductors help to achieve these figures?
- Which semiconductor ratings are demanded by the space power industry for each application?
At the moment the research project lead by Dr. Arrizabalaga is focusing on the silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor devices, as they are better suited for the requirements of the high-power applications. The team has already had several meetings with the main European space power companies discussing the points of interest mentioned above.
As a result, ESA received rich feedback with industry requirements and new ideas. And as anticipated, most of the companies are looking to the ways to increase power of their systems.
Thus, the following applications were mentioned the most:
- Latching current limiters (LCL) for high power distribution
- High-voltage (HV), increasing the traditional bus voltage, and high-power (HP) DC-DC converters
- Rectification and synchronous rectification
- HP motor drives
- Very HV applications, around and over 1 kV
Figure 1. The ratings of the semiconductor devices required by the industry for each application
According to Dr. Arrizabalaga, ESA classifies innovations in three categories, according to the degree of innovation they bring when compared to the state-of-the-art:
- Enhancing. It brings a substantial improvement to the state-of-the-art system.
- Based on a technology replacement
- For SiC devices it means replacing the Si devices in an existing application and optimizing the system to get system-level benefits
- Low risk, development time and cost for manufacturers
- Straightforward adoption by industry and high probability of success
- Enabling. It will allow a new feature, new application, or even a new mission.
- Critical technologies for a certain feature, application or mission
- For SiC devices it means that without the adoption of such devices, the new desired feature, application or mission is no longer possible
- Medium-high risk for manufacturers, higher development cost and effort, since it has never been done before
- More challenging adoption by industry, and lower probability of success
- Game-changing. It promises to bring entirely new capabilities (not considered for this study).
Figure 2. Classification of the applications mentioned by the industry and the main drivers needed to be optimized for each application.
The European Space Agency research team is looking forward to support the successful adoption of the wide bandgap (WBG) power semiconductor devices by the European space power industry, giving the European industry a competitive edge.
Original – Dr. Antxon Arrizabalaga
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On 18 March 2024, Infineon Technologies AG successfully completed its Share Buyback Program 2024, announced on 26 February 2024 in accordance with Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 and Article 2(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2016/1052.
As part of the Share Buyback Program 2024, a total of 7,000,000 shares (ISIN DE0006231004) were acquired. The total purchase price of the repurchased shares was € 232,872,668. The average purchase price paid per share was € 33.27.
The buyback was carried out on behalf of Infineon by an independent credit institution via Xetra trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, serving the sole purpose of allocating shares to employees of the company or affiliated companies, members of the Management Board of the company as well as members of the management board and the board of directors of affiliated companies as part of the existing employee participation programs.
Original – Infineon Technologies
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EPC announces the availability of the EPC9193, a 3-phase BLDC motor drive inverter using the EPC2619 eGaN® FET. The EPC9193 operates with a wide input DC voltage ranging from 14 V and 65 V and has two configurations – a standard unit and a high current version:
- The EPC9193 standard reference design uses a single FET for each switch position and can deliver up to 30 ARMS maximum output current.
- A high current configuration version of the reference design, the EPC9193HC, uses two paralleled FETs per switch position with the ability to deliver up to 60 Apk (42 ARMS) maximum output current.
Both versions of the EPC9193 contain all the necessary critical function circuits to support a complete motor drive inverter including gate drivers, regulated auxiliary power rails for housekeeping supplies, voltage, and temperature sense, accurate current sense, and protection functions. The EPC9193 boards measure just 130 mm x 100 mm (including connector).
Major benefits of a GaN-based motor drive are exhibited with these reference design boards, including lower distortion for lower acoustic noise, lower current ripple for reduced magnetic loss, and lower torque ripple for improved precision. The extremely small size of this inverter allows integration into the motor housing resulting in the lowest EMI, highest density, and lowest weight.
EPC provides full demonstration kits, which include interface boards that connect the inverter board to the controller board development tool for fast prototyping that reduce design cycle times.
“GaN-based inverters enhance motor efficiency and lower costs, expensive silicon MOSFET inverters”, said Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC. “This results in smaller, lighter, quieter motors with increased torque, range, and precision.”
Original – Efficient Power Conversion
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Teledyne e2v HiRel announced the availability of radiation tolerant RF and Power products for the evolving New Space market. Qualified based on the EEE-INST-002 space grade standard, these plastic packaged products are qualified for the harsh environment of space with –55°C to +125°C temperature operating ratings, and are radiation tolerant for use in LEO, MEO, and GEO missions.
The RF products include several low noise amplifiers (LNA) and are ideal for demanding high-reliability space applications where low noise figure, minimal power consumption, and small footprint are critical to mission success. They are ideally suited for satellite communication systems that are increasing the power of radio signals so utilizing components with minimal noise and distortion help minimizing the degradation of digital signals.
These LNAs are developed in the radiation tolerant pHEMT technology semiconductor process technology. The monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) products are available in dual-flat no lead (DFN) plastic over molded SMT packages and are biased over single positive VDD supply voltages, eliminating the need for negative power rail voltages.
- The TDLNA002093SEP delivers a low noise figure of less than 0.37 dB, IDDQ from 30 mA to 100mA, and exceptional performance from 1 GHz (L-band) to 6 GHz (S-band) frequencies.
- The TDLNA0430SEP delivers an industry leading low noise figure of less than 0.35 dB, IDDQ of 60mA and exceptional performance from 0.3 GHz (UHF) to 3 GHz (S-band) frequencies.
- The TDLNA2050SEP delivers an industry leading low noise figure of less than 0.4 dB, IDDQ of 60mA and exceptional performance from 2.0 GHz (S-band) to 5 GHz (C-band) frequencies.
The Power products offerings include Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology High Electron Mobility Transistors up to 650V, currents up to 90 Amp, high switching frequencies, and low RDSON. These GaN solutions have easy gate-drive requirements and enable high power density designs with four times less space requirements than traditional MOSFETs. The TDG650E60xSP parts are available in extremely small non hermetic packages with either top-side and bottom-side thermal pads and are ideally suited for satellite power supply systems with space production screening.
“Today we’re announcing our New Space products offering of RF and Power products optimized for space applications,” said Mont Taylor, Vice President and Business Development Manager at Teledyne e2v HiRel. “These LNAs with their ultra low noise figures coupled with the high power density capabilities of GaN transistors, we believe these products will enable system designers with superior solutions for space based satellite communication applications.”Original – Teledyne e2v HiRel
