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BorgWarner has clinched an agreement with a major North American OEM to supply its bi-directional 800V Onboard Charger (OBC) for the automaker’s premium passenger vehicle battery electric vehicle (BEV) platforms. The technology leverages silicon carbide (SiC) power switches for improved efficiency and delivers amplified power density, power conversion and safety compliance. Start of production is slated for January 2027.
“This is a big accomplishment for the team at BorgWarner, highlighting our first OBC win with this OEM and marks the first OBC win in North America,” said Dr. Stefan Demmerle, President and General Manager, BorgWarner PowerDrive Systems.
“Through our world-class power electronics expertise and market leading status for our 800-volt and silicon carbide technology, we are providing a solution to maximize charging power capabilities, extend power densities and enhance efficiencies while catering to differing grid configurations across regions.”
BorgWarner’s OBC technology is installed in electric vehicles to convert alternating current (AC) from the power grid to direct current (DC) to charge batteries. The OBC is capable of powers ranging from 19.2kW single-phase operation to 22kW three-phase operation.
The 19.2kW power level uses two power lines for a single-phase grid connection, which is unique to the U.S. market. The 22kW power level uses a three-phase grid connection and is intended for use in the European market. The 19.2kW single-phase charger is currently the only one of its kind to be introduced into the U.S. market.
The OBC incorporates a bi-directional vehicle-to-load (V2L) operating mode that enables users to use the vehicle battery pack to charge various standalone applications, which is an increasingly desired feature within the industry. Additionally, both the charger hardware and software are designed and produced by BorgWarner.
Original – BorgWarner
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A cross-organizational team from Rigaku SE and Fraunhofer IISB has established a new semicon-ductor material characterization method in their jointly operated Center of Expertise for X-ray Topography in Erlangen, Germany. They succeeded not only in developing an industry-ready X-ray topography system, but also in employing defect detection and quantification algorithms, achieving a worldwide unique material characterization method for silicon carbide (SiC) wafers.
SiC is an excellent semiconductor for application areas like electric mobility and transportation, sustainable energy supply, industrial infrastructure up to sensors and quantum technologies even under harsh operating conditions.
As representatives for the whole research team, Dr. Kranert and Dr. Reimann from Fraunhofer IISB and Dr. Hippler, Managing Director Rigaku Europe SE, have won the Georg Waeber Innovation Award 2023 from the Förderkreis für die Mikroelektronik e.V. (Microelectronics Promotion Society).
Pioneering holistic material defect characterization with X-ray topography
In 2021, Rigaku SE and Fraunhofer IISB have founded the Center of Expertise for X-ray Topography, a joint lab that is located at the IISB’s headquarters in Erlangen, Germany. Here, the cross-organizational team has now developed a new metrology that is non-destructive, robust, reliable, high-throughput and therefore capable of swiftly detecting all relevant crystallographic defects in SiC substrates.
For the first time worldwirde, this innovation realized the holistic approach of setting up the measurement device, i.e., the X-ray topography (XRT) tool as well as formulating appropriate measurement and analysis routines that specifically meet the industry’s demands for speed, reliability, and accuracy. The development process was supported by rigorous scientific validation of the results, a crucial factor for the acceptance of a new approach in the industry.
Until now, no such industry-ready metrology existed for the early stages of SiC power electronics manufacturing, especially at substrate or crystal (commonly referred to as the “puck”) level. This breakthrough in SiC substrate inspection makes it no longer necessary to, e.g., destructively defect etch and discard semiconductor substrates for characterization, as is currently often the case. In consequence, the developed XRT metrology is superior to these existing substrate characterization methods employed in the industry, ultimately leading to substantial cost savings.
Effectively, this technology, developed in Germany, provides everything needed to become the industry standard for specifying and controlling substrate quality in production as well as for R&D substrate and device manufacturers worldwide. The success of this joint innovation is vividly illustrated by the new business, which Rigaku has successfully established in less than two years. Now, the Japan-based company is the world’s leading supplier of XRT tools for SiC substrate and device manufacturing.
The innovative metrology approach has been driven significantly by Dr. Michael Hippler, Managing Director of Rigaku Europe SE, and Dr. Christian Kranert with Dr. Christian Reimann, both group managers in the Fraunhofer IISB’s Materials department. Hence the scientists were selected for the Georg Waeber Innovation Award 2023 by the Förderkreis für die Mikroelektronik e.V. (Microelectronics Promotion Society).
The Förderkreis is an association of industry companies, two Fraunhofer institutes, four chairs of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The main objective is to foster a smooth exchange between science and industry, which is manifested in the Georg Waeber Innovation Award. The award is presented annually for outstanding scientific achievements and places a strong emphasis on the advancement of knowledge in microelectronics and its practical application in the industry. On October 25, 2023, Dr. Hippler, Dr. Reimann and Dr. Kranert received the award during a ceremony at Fraunhofer IISB in Erlangen.
Paving the way for the next generation of SiC power electronics
SiC semiconductor devices play a pivotal role in the power electronics industry. As a replacement for conventional silicon-based power electronics, SiC has the potential to enhance energy efficiency while reducing system costs. It is relevant across various application areas from electric mobility and transportation, sustainable energy supply, industrial infrastructure up to sensors and quantum technologies even under harsh operating conditions.
Consequently, processing low-cost, energy-efficient, and highly reliable SiC power devices is a critical endeavor with the worldwide electrification trend. The production capacities for SiC wafers experience significant growth, which goes hand in hand with an increasing demand for wafer inspection and metrology within the SiC industry. In particular, manufacturers of substrates and power devices require precice information regarding the quality of substrates in terms of crystallographic defects, their distribution across the entire wafer area, and absolute quantities.
Original – Fraunhofer IISB
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“The 31st International Optoelectronics Exposition (OPTO Taiwan)”, organized by Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association, is taking place in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Hall 1 from October 25th to 27th, for a three-day technological extravaganza. As a leading company in semiconductor technology, GlobalWafers unveils its latest achievements in compound semiconductors.
At this year’s exposition, GlobalWafers features 8”N type SiC crystal growth technology, Thinning technology of 6”and 8”SiC wafers, and high-value niche products in the GaN epitaxy field, demonstrating its technical prowess honed over many years in the compound semiconductor industry. SiC crystal growth presents challenges due to the need for growth in extremely high-temperature sealed environments, with factors like hot zone design and crucible materials in crystal growth furnace adding the complexity to equipment and operations.
GlobalWafers independently designs and develops 8”SiC-specific Physical Vapor Transport Method Grower (PVT) to further reduce crystal growth costs while achieving higher material quality control. Through outstanding technical control and production efficiency, as well as continuous research and development, GlobalWafers overcomes the technical challenges of SiC crystal growth, successfully moving forward to 8 inches, providing customers with high-quality, superior-performance SiC materials.
The high hardness and brittleness of SiC make subsequent wafering process extremely challenging. Leveraging its edge in wafer processing, GlobalWafers has successfully developed SiC ultra-thin thinning technology, showcasing 6” 90µm and 8”350µm ultra-thin polished SiC wafers at the exhibition. Ultra-thin SiC wafers offer advantages in lightweighting, heat dissipation, thermal conductivity, high-frequency operation, component miniaturization, and material costs, making them an ideal choice for high-performance semiconductor devices.
GlobalWafers’ SiC wafers include 4”~ 6” semi-insulating wafers and 6”~ 8”conductive SiC wafers, offering a comprehensive range of products to cater for diverse customer needs and expand into various fields of application.
Heteroepitaxy of GaN poses various technical challenges, such as lattice mismatch, stress, and defects. GlobalWafers focuses on research and development, launching a full range of GaN heteroepitaxy products, including silicon, SiC and sapphire substrates. A variety of substrate selections can meet different requirements and expand terminal applications in an all-round way.
With its wealth of semiconductor substrate technology and years of industry experience, GlobalWafers has been able to give full play to our strengths and provide more advanced and high-efficiency solutions for the rapidly growing electric vehicle market.
Original – GlobalWafers
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STMicroelectronics has released the ACEPACK DMT-32 family of silicon carbide (SiC) power modules in a convenient 32-pin, dual-inline, molded, through-hole package for automotive applications. Targeted at systems such as on-board chargers (OBC), DC/DC converters, fluid pumps and air conditioning, they deliver advantages including high power density, very compact design, and simplified assembly. The product family enhances flexibility for system designers by presenting a choice of four-pack, six-pack, and totem-pole configurations.
The modules contain 1200V SiC power switches that leverage ST’s state-of-the-art, second- and third-generation SiC MOSFET technology ensuring low RDS(on) values. The devices deliver efficient switching performance with minimal dependence on temperature to ensure high efficiency and reliability at converter system level.
Leveraging ST’s proven, robust ACEPACK technology, the modules reduce overall system- and design-development costs while ensuring outstanding reliability. The package technology features a high-performance aluminum nitride (AlN) insulated substrate for excellent thermal performance. There is also an integrated NTC sensor that provides temperature monitoring for thermal protection.
The first product in ACEPACK DMT-32, introduced today with ramp-up to volume production since Q4’23, is M1F45M12W2-1LA. The M1F80M12W2-1LA, M1TP80M12W2-2LA, M1P45M12W2-1LA, M1P80M12W2-1LA, M1P30M12W3-1LA are sampling now with ramp-up to volume production starting from Q1’24.
Original – STMicroelectronics
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The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has developed and suc-cessfully commissioned the world’s first medium-voltage string inverter for large-scale power plants. By feeding power into the medium-voltage grid, the “MS-LeiKra” project team has demonstrated that PV inverters are technically capable of handling higher voltage levels.
The benefits for photovoltaics in-clude enormous cost and resource savings for passive components and cables. The device lays the foundation for a new system concept for the next genera-tion of large-scale PV power plants, which can also be applied to wind turbines, electric mobility and industrial applications.
Modern PV string inverters have an output voltage of between 400 VAC and 800 VAC. Although the output of power plants is steadily growing, voltage has not yet been increased. There are two reasons for this: First, building a highly efficient and compact inverter based on silicon semiconductors is a challenge. Second, there are currently no PV-specific standards that cover only the low-voltage range (max. 1,500 VDC / 1,000 VAC).
In a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Fraunhofer ISE, in collaboration with Siemens and Sumida, has developed an inverter that enables the output voltage to be increased to the medium-voltage range (1,500 V) at 250 kVA. The key to this is the use of silicon carbide semiconductors, which have a higher blocking voltage.
The research team has also implemented a more efficient cooling concept using heat pipes, which reduces the amount of aluminum required.
Thinner cables offer huge savings potential
An average photovoltaic power plant requires dozens of kilometers of copper cables. Increasing the voltage generates significant savings potential: At today’s possible output voltage of 800 VAC, a 250 kVA string inverter requires cables with a minimum cross section of 120 mm². By increasing the voltage to 1,500 VAC, the cable cross section can be reduced to 35 mm².
This in turn cuts copper consumption by around 700 kilograms per kilometer of cable. “Our resource analyses show that in the medium term, the electrification of the energy system will lead to copper becoming scarce. Increasing the voltage allows us to save valuable resources,” says Prof. Dr. Andreas Bett, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE.
Standards need to change
With the “MS LeiKra” project, we are leaving the scope of low-voltage (<1000 VAC / <1500 VDC) standards. There are currently no PV-specific standards for this range. This is why the project team is also working on the standards that would result from increasing the voltage.
Finding a demo project partner
Having fed power into the medium-voltage grid successfully, the research team is now looking for solar farm developers and grid operators to test the power plant concept in the field.
Besides photovoltaics, moving beyond low voltage is also of interest for other applications, such as wind turbines, where the growing system capacities also require cables with large cross sections. The same is true for the charging infrastructure for large electric vehicles and vehicle fleets, and for industrial grids, where medium-voltage inverters could save a lot of material if cable cross sections could be reduced.
Original – Fraunhofer ISE
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onsemi announced the completed expansion of its state-of-the-art, world-largest silicon carbide (SiC) fabrication facility in Bucheon, South Korea. At full capacity, this fab will be able to manufacture more than one million 200 mm SiC wafers per year.
To support the ramp in SiC manufacturing capacity, onsemi plans to hire up to 1,000 local employees over the next three years to fill the mostly highly technical positions – a more than 40% increase over the present workforce of about 2,300.
Silicon carbide devices are a critical component for power conversion in electric vehicles (EVs), energy infrastructure and high-power EV chargers. The rapidly growing demand for these products has created a surge in demand for SiC chips, with demand outpacing supply for the foreseeable future. The expansion of the Bucheon fab addresses the pressing need for additional production capacity, allowing onsemi to continue to provide supply assurance for its customers and strengthen its leadership in intelligent power solutions.
Construction of the new advanced 150 mm/200 mm SiC fab line along with the high-tech utility building and adjacent parking garage began in the middle of 2022 and was completed in September 2023. The expansion of the 150 mm/200 mm SiC Epi and wafer fab emphasizes onsemi’s focus on building out its vertically integrated silicon carbide manufacturing supply chain at brownfield locations. The Bucheon SiC line is starting with the production of 150 mm wafers and will be converted to 200 mm in 2025 upon qualification of the 200 mm SiC process.
onsemi’s leadership was joined by a delegation of dignitaries led by Vice Governor for Economy of the Gyeonggi-Do Taeyoung Yeom; followed by Bucheon City Mayor YongEek Cho; National Assembly delegates; and Bucheon Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman JongHuem Kim. Also in attendance were representatives from local communities, customers, suppliers and the semiconductor industry.
onsemi CEO Hassane El-Khoury opened the event, noting, “The 150 mm/200 mm SiC wafer fab in Bucheon is critical to the continued success of our fully integrated SiC supply chain, enabling us to support the acceleration of electrification globally. The last five years have shown what extraordinary performance our Bucheon team is capable of, and what we can achieve when we work together with governmental agencies toward the common goal of a more sustainable future.”
“I am truly impressed by onsemi’s diligent and yet fast execution of its strategic plan to expand the Bucheon SiC wafer fab,” said Bucheon City Mayor YongEek Cho. “Not only will the city of Bucheon benefit from the creation of new employment opportunities in technology, but it will also be a part of laying the foundation for a sustainable ecosystem through electrification.”
Original – onsemi
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Navitas Semiconductor announced its continued sponsorship of the 2023 China Power Electronics and Energy Conversion Congress & the 26th China Power Supply Society (CPSS) Conference and Exhibition (CPSSC 2023), revealing major next-generation gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor platforms, including GaNSafe™ – the world’s safest GaN power semiconductor.
Hosted in Guangzhou from November 10th-13th, CPSSC 2023 celebrates its 40th anniversary and promotes academic and technical exchange in the fields of power electronics, energy conversion, and power technology, to foster technical innovation and related industries.
Navitas is the technology and market leader in GaN, with over 100 million GaNFast™ power ICs shipped, and over 12 million GeneSiC™ power MOSFETs and diodes shipped into a $22 billion per year total market opportunity.
With GaNSafe, Navitas has optimized its 4th-generation GaN technology for demanding, high-power applications in data centers, solar / energy storage and EV markets, where efficiency, power density and robust & reliable operation are critical. Adopting a novel, robust, and cool-running surface-mount TOLL package, GaNSafe integrates features and functions, including:
- Protected, regulated, integrated gate-drive control, with zero gate-source loop inductance for reliable high-speed 2 MHz switching to maximize power density.
- High-speed short-circuit protection, with autonomous ‘detect and protect’ within 50 ns – 4x faster than competing discrete solutions.
- Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of 2 kV, vs. zero for discrete GaN transistors.
- 650/ 800 V capability to aid survival during extraordinary application conditions.
- Easy-to-use, complete, high-power, high-reliability, high-performance power IC with only 4 pins, accelerating customer designs.
- Programmable turn-on and turn-off (dV/dt) to simplify EMI regulatory requirements.
Navitas’ CPSSC 2023 program includes comprehensive, in-depth technology, application and market presentations include a plenary keynote speech, full conference paper, four industrial sessions, a guest PSMA presentation, an in-depth 3.5-hour technology seminar and full GaNSafe launch. Visitors to the exhibition will discover ground-breaking technology demonstrations and complete power system platform designs at the Navitas booth.
Original – Navitas Semiconductor
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Designing state-of-the-art heat pumps and HVAC systems is not easy. Finding a way to overcome demands, such as giving more power in a smaller footprint requires a lot from a power module.
Vincotech’s new 1200 V PIM+PFC is the answer. Its integrated three-phase ANPFC and inverter stage resolve contradiction to boost efficiency and cut systems costs. More compact designs at higher power ranges is not a problem any more.
Samples are available through our usual channels.
Main benefits
- All-in-one solution: 3-phase PFC with inverter stage in a compact flow1 housing allows for more compact designs and higher power density
- High efficient AN-PFC topology with SiC diodes for switching frequencies up to 150 kHz reduces systems costs
- High speed IGBT’s in the inverter stage for high switching frequency operation
- Thin Al2O3 substrate eases the system’s thermal design
- Integrated thermal sensor simplifies temperature measurement
Applications
- Embedded drives
- Industrial drives
Original – Vincotech
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Axcelis Technologies, Inc. announced the shipment of the Company’s Purion EXE SiC Power Series™ 200mm high energy implanter to a leading SiC power device chipmaker located in Japan. The system will be used in high volume production of SiC power devices for use in automotive applications.
Executive Vice President of Marketing and Applications, Greg Redinbo, commented, “The power device market is one of the fastest growing segments in IC manufacturing, due in part to the robust growth in the electric vehicles market. The power device market is at a critical inflection point as chipmakers transition from 150mm to 200mm SiC wafers.
The Purion Power Series family is uniquely suited to excel at these applications due to its innovative platform that offers the flexibility to handle multiple wafer sizes, various substrate types and operate at various implant temperatures. We look forward to continuing to expand the Purion platform footprint in Japan and supporting our customers’ goals to increase their manufacturing capacity.”
Original – Axcelis Technologies
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Infineon Technologies AG and Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation have signed a multi-year supply agreement for silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon (Si) power semiconductors. Infineon will build and reserve manufacturing capacity to supply SiC as well as Si power modules and chips to Hyundai/Kia until 2030. Hyundai/Kia will support the capacity build-up and capacity reservation with financial contributions.
“Infineon stands as a valued strategic partner, boasting steadfast production capabilities and distinct technological prowess within the power semiconductor market,” said Heung Soo Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Strategy Office (GSO) at Hyundai Motor Group. “This partnership not only empowers Hyundai Motor and Kia to stabilize its semiconductor supply but also positions us to solidify our leadership in the global EV market, underpinned by our competitive product lineups.”
“The future car will be clean, safe and smart and semiconductors are at the heart of this transformation. As a trusted partner, we are proud to advance our long-term partnership with Hyundai/Kia,” said Peter Schiefer, President of Infineon’s Automotive Division. “We contribute premium products of high quality, our system knowledge and application understanding combined with continued investments in manufacturing capacity to address the increasing demand for automotive power electronics.”
Infineon’s power semiconductors are key enablers for the transition to electromobility. This transition will lead to strong market growth for power semiconductors, especially those based on wide bandgap materials like SiC.
With the significant expansion of its Kulim fab, Infineon will build the world’s largest 200-millimeter SiC power fab and further strengthen its market-leading role as a high-quality, high-volume supplier to the automotive industry. In line with Infineon’s multi-site strategy, the Kulim facility will complement Infineon’s current manufacturing capacity in Villach, Austria, and further capacity expansions in Dresden, Germany.
Original – Infineon Technologies
