The SiC track is hot. Recently, BYD, STMicroelectronics, Keyou Semiconductor and HPC have announced new products, new technologies and new production lines related to SiC.

BYD's new 1200V 1040A SiC power module

According to BYD Semiconductor's public news, BYD Semiconductor recently launched a new 1200V 1040A SiC power module with a new high module power.

According to the news, compared with the mainstream SiC power module in the market, the 1200V 1040A SiC power module adopts a double-sided sintering process, i.e. the SiC MOSFETs are connected with sintering process on both upper and lower surfaces, which has better process advantages and reliability.

The module successfully overcomes the module space limitation problem and increases the module power by nearly 30% without changing the original module package size, which is mainly used in new energy vehicle motor drive controller. It breaks through the technical problems of high temperature packaging material, high life interconnection design, high heat dissipation design and vehicle specification verification, giving full play to the advantages of SiC power devices in terms of high efficiency, high frequency and high temperature resistance.

Public information shows that in the field of SiC power devices, BYD Semiconductor made a major technological breakthrough in 2020, launching the first 1200V 840A/700A three-phase full-bridge SiC power module and achieving large-scale application in the motor drive controller of high-end models of new energy vehicles.

Since the layout of the power semiconductor field in 2005, BYD Semiconductor has released completely independently developed 2.5, 4.0 and 5.0 generations of automotive IGBT technology in power chips, and independently developed the latest generation of refined trench gate composite field termination IGBT 6.0 technology in 2022, with greatly improved product performance and reliability, reaching the international leading level.

Koyo Semiconductor's 6-inch SiC crystal thickness exceeds 32mm

On June 17, Koyo Semiconductor announced that its 6-inch SiC crystal, developed with its own equipment and technology, has achieved a breakthrough in thickness, reaching 32.146mm, the industry leader. In addition, 99% of its self-developed SiC long crystal furnace (induction furnace) has been replaced domestically with its own components.

In November 2021, Harbin New District News reported that Koyo Semiconductor had completed the preparation of 6-inch third-generation semiconductor substrates and was developing 8-inch substrates.

In terms of industrialization, in October 2021, the production workshop building under construction in Phase I of the Koyo Semiconductor Industry-Academia-Research Aggregation Zone project was topped out and secondary structure masonry was carried out. It is reported that 100 sets of equipment will be laid after the completion of the first phase of the production workshop building. After the project reaches full production, it will eventually have an annual production capacity of nearly 100,000 pieces of silicon carbide substrates and 1,000 kilograms of high purity semi-insulated crystals, and an annual production and sales capacity of 200 sets of PVT-SiC crystal growth equipment. It is reported that the first phase of Koyo Semiconductor Industry-Academia-Research Aggregation Zone project is expected to be put into production in August this year.

ST expands SiC power device packaging capacity at a cost of USD 244 million

According to foreign media, STMicroelectronics recently opened a new SiC power device packaging line.

It is reported that the new production line is located in Morocco Casablanca - Settat region of the Bosque Kula factory. The $244 million expansion project will expand the factory's existing production area by 7,500 square meters, making it the company's second largest factory and a key part of ST's strategy to supply silicon carbide devices to Europe.

In addition, STMicroelectronics has also recently announced that it will build a wafer fab with GlobalFoundries. According to the news, GlobalFoundries and STMicroelectronics are considering the construction of a semiconductor fab in cooperation with French government subsidies. According to speculation, the two sides of the new fab or will focus on the automotive and other industries need chips.

Meanwhile, STMicroelectronics also signed several cooperation agreements in the first quarter of fiscal 2022, including a four-year technical cooperation with German module maker SEMIKRON to jointly develop eMPACK power modules for electric vehicles. The module has been selected by a German OEM with a contract value of around €1 billion.

ST's silicon carbide products are progressing well and have now become an important part of the company's revenue. According to its financial report, as of the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, the company's silicon carbide products have been sent in 75 customers in 98 projects for testing, of which industrial applications and electric vehicle applications accounted for half each.

ST expects revenue from silicon carbide products to be around $700 million in 2022, while this figure will reach $1 billion in 2024.

SiC crystal growth enters the era of resistance furnace

According to the official news of HPT, HPT launched a new generation of 2.0 version of SIC resistive crystal growth furnace in June this year. It is reported that the furnace model launched in mass production is based on the new version of Hengpu's previous generation 6 and 8-inch resistance furnace, which actively corresponds to the market demand for SIC resistance crystal growth furnace industry.

Industry news shows that most of the domestic SIC crystal growth furnaces use the induction heating method.

It is reported that induction heating crystal growth furnace equipment is widely used in the industry because of its low investment, convenient maintenance, high thermal efficiency and other advantages. With the advent of the era of silicon carbide 8 inches, the crucible diameter grows, the problems such as the decomposition of raw materials in the production and the adjustment of complex defects brought by the thermal stress of crystal face shape appear along with the problems, and its performance gradually becomes difficult to fit the use of higher technical difficulties.

In order to solve the industry pain point, Hengpu Technology launched the SIC crystal growth technology platform with axis diameter separation as the core technology and graphite heating, which combined with the new process, breakthrough to solve the industry core demand of crystal growing up, growing fast and growing thick.

The new generation of graphite heated crystal growth furnace actively regulates its regional temperature in the radial region of the seed crystal, and the axial temperature regulates its regional temperature through the thermal field of the material area, thus realizing the axial diameter separation.

When the crystal grows, as the thickness increases, the heat capacity of the seed crystal area changes and the thermal conductivity also changes greatly, and the changes of these parameters will affect the temperature of the seed crystal area. Since the seed crystal area has a radial plane heat generator, it can actively adjust the temperature of the radial plane to achieve controlled heat dissipation in the radial plane. As the raw material decomposes, the thermal conductivity of the material changes (note: the old process of secondary mass transfer) and will crystallize in the upper part of the material, and the thermal field of the material area can actively adjust the temperature of the material area according to the state of the material. When setting the growth process, it is only necessary to directly set the temperature profile of the seed crystal area and the temperature profile of the axial temperature gradient, "what you see is what you get", which reduces the difficulty of process coupling and avoids the process black box.

The combination of axis-diameter separation and new process is the technical highlight of the new generation 2.0 version of SIC resistance crystal growth furnace. The new process adopts primary mass transfer heat field, so that the transport of material flow can achieve basic constancy, and with the precise area temperature control technology of axis-diameter separation, it can more optimally solve the industry demand of crystal growth, fast growth and thick growth.