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onsemi announced that Sineng Electric will integrate onsemi EliteSiC silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs and IGBT-based high-density power integrated modules (PIMs) into its utility-scale solar inverter and industry-first 200kW energy storage system (ESS). The two companies worked together to develop optimized solutions that maximize the performance of solar inverters, energy storage and power conversion systems.
Sineng’s work with onsemi EliteSiC has led to the launch of a utility-scale solar string inverter, which offers simplicity in design, reduced maintenance costs and lower downtimes compared to a centralized inverter solution. The adoption of onsemi’s highly optimized single-stage PIM with multi-level topology in 200KW ESS enables industry leading system efficiency and lower total cost of ownership.
“onsemi supports us in solving the most challenging technical problems such as system-level design, simulations, thermal analysis and creation of sophisticated control algorithms,” said Qiang Wu, chairman of Sineng Electric. “Integrating the highly efficient EliteSiC technology enables us to develop and implement cutting-edge renewable energy solutions tailored to our customers’ needs. In combination with onsemi’s end-to-end SiC supply chain, we have the supply assurance to plan for long-term growth.”
Both companies will continue to collaborate on the development of new high-power products to enable a broader range of renewable energy solutions. As part of this process, Sineng will adopt more EliteSiC products, thereby benefitting from efficiency and scale.
“Together, we will leverage the benefits of onsemi’s high performance products and Sineng Electric’s expertise in power electronics system design to deliver industry leading solutions for sustainable energy applications,” said Asif Jakwani, senior vice president and general manager, Advanced Power Division, onsemi. “Our continuous pursuit to improve overall system efficiency plays a pivotal role in society moving towards the goal of a net-zero emissions future.”
The two companies expect to extend their existing long-term supply agreement (LTSA), signed in late 2022, further demonstrating their commitment to collaboration and innovation.
Original – onsemi
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Nexperia announced a significant raising of the bar in semiconductor engineer design support with the release of next-generation interactive datasheets to accompany its Power MOSFETs. By manipulating interactive sliders within the datasheets, users can manually adjust the voltage, current, temperature and other conditions for their circuit application and watch how the operating point of a device dynamically responds to these changes.
These interactive datasheets effectively offer a type of graphical user interface to a circuit simulator, using Nexperia’s advanced electrothermal models to calculate the operating point of a device. In addition, they allow engineers to visualize immediately the interaction between parameters such as gate voltage, drain current, RDS(on) and temperature. Their collective contribution to the device behavior is then displayed dynamically in tables or graphs. As a result, Nexperia’s interactive datasheets can significantly increase productivity by eliminating the time needed for an engineer to perform manual calculations or set up and debug a circuit simulation.
The datasheet is commonly the first port of call when a design engineer is looking to select a device for an application. However, while they contain a wealth of information, including the minimum, maximum and typical specifications across dozens of device parameters, it is often difficult to determine how these are interrelated. Consequently, engineers must perform time-consuming manual calculations or set up a circuit simulator using models provided by the manufacturer (assuming these are available) to thoroughly investigate a device’s behavior. Even then, many manufacturers’ simulation models do not show the effect of temperature changes on device behavior. The new interactive datasheets from Nexperia support engineers by showing real-time interaction across different parameters as they are manually changed with the easy-to-use datasheet sliders.
Chris Boyce, Senior Director of Nexperia’s Power MOSFET business adds, “Whether you are a Design Engineer looking to see how a device will perform at elevated temperature, or a Component Engineer trying to compare devices under different test conditions, our new interactive datasheets are designed to make your life easier.”
The technology powering these datasheets is the same as that used in Nexperia’s hugely successful precision electrothermal MOSFET models, which demonstrate how the behaviour of discrete MOSFETs changes with temperature. The new interactive datasheets are offered in addition to the traditional static datasheets and operate in any standard web browser without the requirement of additional software for device simulation.
With the initial version currently under patent application, Nexperia will be reaching out to its global community of customer engineers to evaluate how interactive datasheets are used in real-time in order to broaden the functionality of future versions.
More than 200 interactive datasheets are already available, covering the devices in Nexperia’s latest generations of Automotive and Industrial Power MOSFETs. Over time, the Company plans to make them available for its entire portfolio of discrete MOSFETs and other devices. Try a live interactive datasheet in action at nexperia.com/interactive-datasheet
Original – Nexperia
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DENSO CORPORATION (DENSO), a leading mobility supplier, and United Semiconductor Japan Co., Ltd. (“USJC”), a subsidiary of global semiconductor foundry United Microelectronics Corporation (“UMC”), announced a joint collaboration to produce insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), which have entered mass production at the 300mm fab of USJC. A first shipment ceremony was held last week to mark this important milestone. It comes just one year after the companies announced a strategic partnership for this critical power semiconductor used in electric vehicles.
As adoption of electric vehicles accelerates, automakers are seeking to boost powertrain efficiency while also increasing cost-effectiveness of electrified vehicles. The jointly invested line at USJC supports the production of a new generation of IGBT developed by DENSO, which offers 20% reduction in power losses compared with earlier generation devices. Production is expected to reach 10,000 wafers per month by 2025.
The ceremony was held at USJC’s fab in Mie Prefecture, Japan. Attendees included by DENSO President Koji Arima, UMC Co-President Jason Wang, USJC President Michiari Kawano, Director-General of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Satoshi Nohara, Governor of Mie Prefecture Katsuyuki Ichimi, and Mayor of Kuwana City Narutaka Ito.
“Today, we are thrilled to welcome a memorable shipping ceremony that symbolizes the partnership between DENSO, UMC and USJC. We are from different cultures such as semiconductor industry and automobile industry. However, we have worked steadily with mutual respect which is a source of our strong competitiveness. DENSO, together with our trusted partners, will continue to further accelerate electrification through the production of competitive semiconductors in order to preserve the global environment and create a society full of smiles,” said Koji Arima, President of DENSO.
“USJC is proud to be the first semiconductor foundry in Japan to manufacture IGBT on 300mm wafers, offering customers greater production efficiency than the standard fabrication on 200mm wafers. Thanks to our dedicated teams and support from DENSO, we were able to complete trial production and reliability testing without delay and honor the mass production date as agreed with the customer,” said Michiari Kawano, President of USJC.
“It is an honor to be a strategic partner of DENSO, a leading automotive solution provider to global automakers. This collaboration fully demonstrates UMC’s manufacturing capability and our collaborative approach to ensure the success of our foundry customers,” said Jason Wang, Co-President of UMC. “The electrification and automation of cars will continue to drive up semiconductor content, particularly for chips manufactured using specialty foundry processes on 28nm and above nodes. As a specialty technology leader, UMC is well positioned to play a bigger role in the automotive value chain and enabling our partners to capture opportunities and win market share in this rapidly evolving industry.
Original – DENSO
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Power Integrations, the leader in gate-driver technology for medium- and high-voltage inverter applications, introduced the SCALE-iFlex™ LT NTC family of IGBT/SiC module gate drivers. The new gate drivers target the popular new dual, 100 mm x 140 mm style of IGBT modules, such as the Mitsubishi LV100 and the Infineon XHP 2, as well as silicon carbide (SiC) variants thereof up to 2300 V blocking voltage. The SCALE-iFlex LT NTC drivers provide Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) data – an isolated temperature measurement of the power module – which enables accurate thermal management of converter systems. This is particularly important for systems with multiple modules arrayed in parallel, ensuring proper current sharing and dramatically enhancing overall system reliability.
Thorsten Schmidt, product marketing manager at Power Integrations, commented: “Designers of renewable energy and rail systems using SCALE-iFlex drivers already benefit from increased system performance; the SCALE-iFlex approach handles paralleling so expertly that one module in five can be eliminated without loss of performance or current de-rating. Adding an isolated NTC output reduces hardware complexity – particularly cables and connectors – and contributes to system observability and overall performance.”
Based on Power Integrations’ proven SCALE™-2 technology, SCALE-iFlex LT gate drivers improve current sharing accuracy and therefore increase the current carrying capability of multiple-paralleled modules by 20 percent, allowing users to significantly increase the semiconductor utilization of their converter stacks. This is possible because the localized control of each 2SMLT0220D MAG (Module Adapted Gate driver) unit ensures precise control and switching, enabling excellent current sharing. Advanced Active Clamping (AAC) is employed to deliver accurate overvoltage protection.
To further increase space saving, up to four MAG-driven power modules can be parallel-connected from a single 2SILT1200T Isolated Master Control (IMC) unit, which can also be mounted on a power module due to its compact outline. The gate drivers are fully qualified to IEC 61000-4-x (EMI), IEC-60068-2-x (environmental) and IEC-60068-2-x (mechanical) specifications, and undergo complete type testing – low voltage, high voltage, thermal cycling – shortening designer development time by 12 to 18 months. A comprehensive set of protection features is included, and parts are optionally available with conformal coating.
Original – Power Integrations
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Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation (“Magnachip” or “Company”) announced that the Company has released a new family of 600V Super Junction Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (SJ MOSFETs) consisting of nine distinct products featuring proprietary design technology.
Magnachip’s proprietary design provides specific on-resistance (RSP) reduction of about 10%, and this result was achieved while maintaining the same cell-pitches of previous generation MOSFETs.
In addition, the new product family of 600V SJ MOSFETs is equipped with a fast recovery body diode. This diode technology significantly enhances system efficiency with reduced reverse recovery time (trr) and switching loss. Therefore, the figure of merit to evaluate general performance of MOSFETs was improved by more than 10% compared to the previous generation. As such, these 600V SJ MOSFETs can be used widely in industrial applications, such as solar inverters, energy storage systems, uninterruptible power supply systems, and a variety of electronics.
Among these new MOSFETs, the MMQ60R044RFTH product offers an exceptionally low RDS(on) of 44mΩ, making it an optimal choice for electric vehicle chargers and servers. Omdia, a global market research firm, estimates that the compound annual growth rates of Si MOSFET markets for hybrid & electric vehicles and servers will be 11% and 7%, respectively, from 2023 to 2026.
“Now that we have introduced these 600V SJ MOSFET products, we are aiming to unveil new 650V and 700V SJ MOSFET products with fast recovery body diode in the second half of 2023,” said YJ Kim, CEO of Magnachip. “These new MOSFETs represent a notable achievement for the Company, and we will build upon this success to deliver next-generation power solutions for rapidly changing market requirements and customer expectations.”
Original – Magnachip Semiconductor
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Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Limited (AOS) announced the release of 600V αMOS7™ Super Junction MOSFETs Family. αMOS7™ is AOS’ next generation high voltage MOSFET, designed to meet the high efficiency and high-density needs of servers, workstations, telecom rectifiers, solar Inverters, EV charging, motor drives and industrial power applications.
Today’s Server power supply requires Titanium efficiency, which translates to more than 98.5% peak efficiency on both PFC and LLC stages. Active-Bridges and Bridgeless designs are easy-to-implement solutions; however, switching and driving losses, especially at light load, are still the main problems designers face. Existing technologies limited by large cell pitches and charges could hardly meet such requirements.
Next-gen SJ technologies with reduced charge but also enough robustness is in demand. Low Qrr and Trr for LLC and PSFB applications are also a must during transient and abnormal situations. AOS αMOS7™ High Voltage SJ MOSFET is the best answer for above needs.
For Solar applications, low ohmic SMD devices are becoming the new standards, aiming for reduced form factors through utilizing 3D mechanical and thermal designs. αMOS7™ provides a wide Rdson granularity and SMD package choices, such as DFN, TOLL, and Top-cooling variants.
For low Fsw applications such as Solid-State Relays or Active Bridges, FETs must meet specific SOA requirements to sustain surge and in-rush currents. αMOS7™ ensures low Rdson’s temperature coefficient and ruggedness for transient voltage and current overstresses.
The first product released – AOK050V60A7 is a 600V 50mOhm αMOS7 low ohmic device with the industry-standard TO-247 package tailored for today’s high-power AC/DC, DC/DC, and Solar Inverter stages. As the EU ERP Lot9 regulation pushes the efficiency of single PSUs to Titanium level, AOS αMOS7™ 600V low ohmic family provides an ideal solution for single, interleaved, dual boost, totem-pole, and Vienna PFCs, as well as other hard-switching topologies. The optimized capacitance of AOK050V60A7 will provide customers excellent switching performances, with fast turn-on/turn-off behaviors, while avoiding the risks of self-turn-on or shoot-through. The 50mohm device will be followed by our upcoming 32mohm, 40mohm, 65mohm, and 105mohm devices.
“The new charge balance structure makes it possible to further reduce the active area up to 50%, compared to αMOS5™, our existing solution. In general, αMOS7™ is an industry-leading high voltage SJ solution designed to address both efficiency driven and cost-driven markets,” said Richard Zhang, Senior Director of Product Line and Global Power Supply businesses at AOS.
Technical Highlights:
- Low Ohmic device with ultra-low switching losses
- Rugged Body Diode and FRD options (Reduced Qrr) available for more demanding use cases
- Rugged SOA and in-rush current capability for Solid-State Relay and Active Bridge applications
- Optimized for both High Power and Low Power SMPSes, Solar Inverters, and EV DC Charging applications
Original – Alpha and Omega Semiconductor
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Infineon Technologies AG launched a new automotive power module: The HybridPACK™ Drive G2. It builds on the well-established HybridPACK Drive G1 concept of an integrated B6 package, offering scalability within the same footprint and extending it to higher power and ease-of-use. The HybridPACK Drive G2 will be available with different current ratings, voltage levels (750V and 1200V) and Infineon’s next generation chip technologies EDT3 (Si IGBT) and CoolSiC™ G2 MOSFET.
With a power range of up to 300 kW within the 750 V and 1200 V classes, the HybridPACK Drive G2 provides high ease-of-use and new features, such as an integration option for next-generation phase current sensor and on-chip temperature sensing, which enable system cost improvements. The power module achieves higher performance and power density through improved assembly and interconnect technology. The adoption of new interconnect technology (chip sintering) and of new materials (new black plastic housing) enables higher temperature rating, resulting in higher performance and longer product life.
The first generation (G1) of HybridPACK Drive was introduced in 2017, using silicon EDT2 technology. It offers a power range of 100 kW to 180 kW in the 750 V class. In 2021, Infineon expanded its product family with the first generation of HybridPACK Drive Automotive CoolSiC MOSFETs, which allowed the inverter design to achieve higher power up to 250 kW within the 1200 V class, longer driving range, smaller battery size and optimized system size and cost. With a track record of nearly 3 million units sold in various global electric vehicle platforms, the HybridPACK Drive is now Infineon’s market-leading power module.
The lead products (FS1150R08, FS01MR08, FS02MR12) of the new HybridPACK Drive G2 are in production and will be available starting May 2023, with additional product variants to follow in 2023 and 2024. More information is available at www.infineon.com/hybridpackdrive.
Original – Infineon Technologies
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Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it will begin shipping samples of a new HV100 dual-type X-Series high-voltage insulated gate bipolar transistor (HVIGBT) module on May31, offering superior power, efficiency and reliability in inverter systems for large industrial equipment such as railways and electric power systems. The dual-type module, which achieves 4.5kV withstand voltage and 10.2kVrms dielectric strength, is rated at 450A, which is believed to be unmatched among 4.5kV silicon HVIGBT modules.
Power semiconductors are increasingly being utilized to efficiently convert electric power in order to lower the carbon footprint of global society, particularly in heavy industry, where these devices are used in power-conversion equipment such as inverters in railway traction systems and for DC power transmission. In response to the growing demand for devices offering high output, high efficiency and wide-ranging output capacity, Mitsubishi Electric released two versions (3.3kV/450A and 3.3kV/600A) of its HV100 dual-type X-Series high-dielectric-strength HVIGBT module in 2021. In the near future, the forthcoming HV100 dual-type X-Series module will contribute to even higher output, higher efficiency and improved system reliability for inverters used in large industrial equipment requiring high dielectric strength.
Original – Mitsubishi Electric
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Semikron Danfoss and the Kyoto-based company ROHM Semiconductor have been collaborating for more than ten years with regards to the implementation of silicon carbide (SiC) inside power modules. Recently, Semikron Danfoss added ROHM’s new 1200V RGA IGBT to its low power module offering. In doing so, both companies show that they remain committed to serving worldwide motor drive customers’ needs.
The worldwide growth in electrification technologies has created unprecedented demand for power modules. Often, it is the chip supply that limits power module availability. Despite ongoing investments in production capacity by the chip manufacturers, the supply situation remains tight. It is against this backdrop that ROHM has introduced the new 1200V RGA IGBT, targeted as an alternative to the latest Generation 7 IGBT devices in industrial applications. ROHM is now expanding their bare die offering to Semikron Danfoss, positioning themselves as an advanced alternative to traditional chip suppliers.
“The RGA is a newly designed, light punch through, trench gate IGBT with Tj,max = 175°C. The conduction, switching, and thermal characteristics are optimized for new industrial drive applications in the low to medium power range. At the same time, the RGA is intended to remain compatible with existing IGBT solutions, enabling a multiple source approach. In addition, the RGA can also be used to improve transient overcurrent handling during overload conditions in motor drive applications,” says Kazuhide Ino, Member of the Board, Managing Executive Officer, CFO at ROHM.
Semikron Danfoss can offer the 1200V RGA IGBT in a full range of nominal current classes from 10A to 150A. This range, combined with the suitability of the RGA chip in motor drive applications, means that the MiniSKiiP family is the ideal choice for module implementation. The baseplate-less, spring-contact MiniSKiiP is already deeply embedded in the worldwide motor drive market and always equipped with the latest generation IGBTs. Therefore, it is important for this product to have an alternative IGBT source to diversify the supply chain. The uniform-height MiniSKiiP housing family is also offered on the market as a multiple source package, making an alternative IGBT a valuable option for manufacturers.
For press-fit/solder applications, the industry-standard SEMITOP E package will also be available in pin-compatible configurations to existing Generation 7 IGBT module offerings. This housing family will also offer sixpack (“GD”) and converter-inverter-brake (“DGDL”) circuit configurations.
“The power electronics industry continues to recover and learn lessons from the supply issues in recent years. It’s clear that diversification in semiconductor chip and module manufacturing is required to generate true ‘multiple source’ power modules”, says Claus A. Petersen, President, Semikron Danfoss. “In the case of 1200V Generation 7 IGBTs, a reliable equivalent from a reputable manufacturer is now available to address this issue also in the low power range. The 1200V RGA IGBT from ROHM is a perfect alternative to the Generation 7 IGBT and can be made to behave in a remarkably similar manner with small gate resistor adjustment,” continues Peter Sontheimer, Senior Vice President Industry Division & Managing Director at Semikron Danfoss.
Original – Semikron Danfoss
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It’s been 6 months since CIL announced it’s newly created and UK based advanced semiconductor packaging facility. Contained within the 46,000sq ft facility is a 15,000sq ft ISO7 (Class 10,000) fully qualified cleanroom that is starting to come online and will be ready by late May 2023.
Since last announced, CIL has also taken the decision to segregate part of this cleanroom to add a separate wafer dicing area complete with DISCO DAD3361 dicing saw and all of the necessary ancillary equipment. This equipment is already installed, commissioned and currently running early engineering trials. This wafer dicing equipment and all of CIL’s current micro-electronics and power semiconductor device packaging equipment will then start to transfer out of CIL’s existing facilities in Andover UK from late May 2023 onwards. The equipment and facilities to be transferred are initially the following:
- 1 off DISCO DAD3361 die and device wafer saw system complete with wafer mounting equipment.
- 2 off DATACON 2200EVO Automatic die bonders for power die placement using both SiC & GaN
- 2 off Automatic die bonders
- 2 off manual die bonders
- 5 off ASM 589 Automatic Al wedge bonders
- 2 off ASM EAGLE60 Automatic Au Ball bonders
- 1 off K&S Asterion Heavy Gauge Wedge wire bonder
- 1 off DAGE 4000 die shear/wire bond pull tester
- 1 off DAGE PROSPECTOR die shear/wire bond pull and full diagnostic test system
- 2 off Nordson Asymtek S2-920 Auto dispense systems for auto partial glob top
- 1 off DAGE Quadra7 X-Ray/CT Scan system.
- 1 off Nordson GEN7 Scanning Acoustic Microscope (CSAM)
- 1 off Keyence VHX7000 Digital Microscope with sub-micron laser measurement
- 1 off Boschman Sinterstar Innovate F-XL sinter press for high pressure silver sintering
- 1 off Boschman Pre-heat and cooling tower system for high pressure silver sintering
- 1 off Boschman UNISTAR Auto plastic overmold machine. Capable of BGA’s, LGA’s, QFN’s, Plastic IC’s, Power discrete and Power modules
- 1 off Scheugenpflug VDS U1000 / LP804 VDU Auto epoxy fill system
- 1 off high power 2000W laser welding system for copper busbar welding
- 6 off 3D Printers
- 50 staff of which 30 are engineers
CIL believes this facility, process equipment and staff will create the largest semiconductor packaging facility in the UK. It is to support and grow its existing micro-electronics customers and to commercially exploit its WBG power semiconductor capability that has been generated from various “Net Zero” low carbon projects funded by APC / InnovateUK / DCMS / BEIS using the latest SiC and GaN devices as well as commercially funded projects.
By adding the wafer dicing capability to the facility, CIL will be able to process finished wafers to provide Dicing, Die attach, Wire bonding or power device copper clip attach, glob top, full plastic overmold or potting and back these processes up with inspection equipment that includes, X-Ray, CT-Scan, CSAM, VHX7000, and destructive and non-destructive testing using DAGE 4000 and DAGE PROSPECTOR test stations.
Over the last 3-4 years CIL has grown its engineering department from 8 persons to the 32 persons it has currently and also has a further 10 engineering vacancies. Starting in late May 2023, all of the staff involved in CIL’s semiconductor and power packaging activities will move from CIL’s two existing facilities into this new world class and state of the art semiconductor packaging facility. As with the cleanroom, the offices are nearing completion and will initially house around 30 semiconductor packaging engineers of all levels.
To compliment this semiconductor packaging facility, CIL has also upgraded its existing SMT PCBA equipment consisting of 5 SMT lines and associated 3D AOI, Flying probe test and IPC2 / 3 soldering at its CIL House facility also in Andover UK. This facility totalling 24,000sq ft is being steadily upgraded and added to.
In the last 2 years, CIL has seen its turnover increase from £15M to £27M and headcount increase from 135 persons to 187 persons it has today. Over the next 12 months, as well as bringing on line its advanced semiconductor packaging facility, it will also be adding new processes and equipment to its current PCBA service offering to further support both its customers development and production needs. So with the new packaging facility this will give CIL a total of 80,000sq ft of production space at its three Andover UK sites.
Original – CIL
