In the ever-evolving realm of power semiconductors, the past decade has seen remarkable shifts. Long dominated by Silicon, the rapid rise of SiC and GaN, has reshaped the industry. However, Silicon's evolution continues, with the adoption of 300 mm Si MOSFET and IGBT platforms, ensuring its cost competitiveness. By 2028, Yole Group projects a market value of $33.3 billion for global discrete and power modules. SiC, from its breakthrough in the Tesla Model 3 to its widespread use in 800V BEVs, notably in China, has witnessed substantial growth, driven by trends like 200 mm platforms, higher power density and optimized power module packaging. GaN, after success in consumer segments, explores automotive applications. In this presentation, we will review the latest market and technology trends in Power Electronics.

The E-mobility market is one of the fastest growing markets with unique challenges in efficiency, innovation and time to market. This is an enormous task for the European power electronic supply chain, because innovation travels slowly along the classical supply chain and is often not fully optimized. For automotive traction inverter products, SiC based power modules are identified as a key component of efficiency and innovation because it combines the power semiconductor requirements with the inverter applications. Leonardo Montoya and Dr. Stefan Hain will present, how powerful the establishment of a joint venture between ZF and Wolfspeed could be and what benefits could be achieved, if the SiC chip technology, the power module design and the inverter architecture is perfectly matched through the work of the joint R&D center. The presented project is part of the IPCEI Microelectronic and EU Chips Act, which were established to boost resilience in European semiconductor research & development.

Advanced power semiconductors and PMICs are key enabling technologies in automotive, consumer and wireless communications. Third generation, wide bandgap semiconductors have already emerged as enabling materials for the fabrication of advanced power devices. GaN, for example, has huge potential both in discrete high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and monolithically integrated PMICs. However, GaN device fabrication poses some unique challenges, including ultra-low damage processing to improve device performance and reliability. In this presentation, Lam will provide some examples of how we are partnering with our customers and research partners to continually innovate in this field, to offer market leading etch, deposition and clean solutions for advanced GaN power device manufacturing.

The challenge in power electronics is the desire to achieve higher power throughput in smaller housings using less resources while increasing efficiency and reduce cost. As these targets have partially contradicting solutions, compromises need to be chosen. Typically, higher currents lead to higher thermal stress in a given device, thus reducing the life-time of the setup. To counter this drawback, solutions with lower losses can be considered like exchanging silicon-based IGBTs using wide band gap SiC-MOSFETs. However, the solution becomes more expensive in turn. Another obvious method would be improved cooling. Here, the approach with insulating substrates puts physical limits to the thermal transfer. The work presented focuses on a non-isolated approach with direct liquid cooling for power semiconductors.

he surge in electric vehicles and carbon reduction targets boosts the power semiconductor sector, creating opportunities in xEVs, charging systems, renewables, and datacenter power. High-efficiency components are crucial for EV powertrains and robust high-voltage management. Fast-charging infrastructure must meet strict standards. SiC and GaN materials surpass silicon in high-performance applications. This industry shift sparks investment in power semiconductors, promising continued growth and innovation.

Silicon devices, the workhorse of power conversion in the past 70 years, are reaching their physical limits and slowing down growth in efficiency of power inverters and converters. To overcome the limitations of silicon, power semiconductor industry has started to adopt wide bandgap materials and devices. Their higher current densities, higher operating temperatures and frequencies, and more efficient switching position the performance of wide bandgap power transistors above and beyond their silicon predecessors. Their disruptive nature, however, creates new challenges which need to be addressed in a systematic way to enable high yielding volume manufacturing of reliable devices. Crystal growth, wafering, epitaxy, wafer processing, and packaging of wide bandgap devices require a paradigm shift and an introduction of novel approaches and techniques. Vertically integrated manufacturing addresses most of those challenges and enables fast growth of wide bandgap power semiconductor business. In addition, co-existence with silicon power switches will be discussed.

Achieving very high-power efficiency at mmWave frequencies is critical for the deployment of 5G and 6G radio systems. Although compound semiconductors technologies promise to reduce the power consumption of high-power amplifiers, their low-cost fabrication on a CMOS compatible platform remains challenging. We introduce in this presentation a GaN-on-Si platform achieving 68% PAE at 28GHz. The reliability challenges will be highlighted, toghether with the transistor optimization using different materials for the front- and back-barriers.

The growth of the EV charging infrastructure and its impact in the electrical grid poses new challenges to the industry; also, the power requirements of the vehicle charging and the increasing demand for higher power and efficiency set the framework and challenges for the future: leveraging grid flexibility with vehicle charging power demand.

Whether Si or SiC is the desired chip technology for an application, advanced packaging is needed to fully utilize and optimize the chip performance. Packaging must be designed for peak loads, though benefits of SiC are at average load. Semikron Danfoss has the technologies needed for the future need of high performance power electronics allowing electrification - in both industry and automotive - to scale up for a sustainable and decarbonized future.

Traditional blade sawing of power wafers (Si, SiC, GaN on different substrates) has issues: side wall cracks, passivation chipping, wafer crack, metal pealing, smearing of backside metallization along die side. Furthermore, it is characterized by high consumable cost (blade wear, water consumption). With the clear demand for performance improvement there is a trend towards thinner wafers, thicker back side metallization and a switch towards different materials: SiC and GaN. Consequently, the issues from traditional blade sawing for power wafers becoming even more prominent. A traditional solution applied to overcome these problems is reducing blade saw speed. This is not future proof as it leads to significantly higher equipment and fab space cost. ASMPT ALSI has developed multi – beam laser dicing of power wafers which outperforms traditional blade sawing and cost of ownership. Several examples will be shown in the presentation.

n recent years the amount of available and suitable SiC substrates was limited and, hence, causing high effort to secure sufficient amount of raw material for the growth plans on 150mm device manufacturing. The transition to 200mm SiC device production has started and questions arise on the stable availability, the maturity, the price, the geopolitical situation for raw materials and the technological innovations around 200mm SiC raw material. Certain raw material players are intensively focusing on the transition to 200mm, others are still busy with ramping up 150mm raw material manufacturing capacity. Defect density and material quality investigations show a correlation between the suppliers’ efforts on 200mm crystal growth development and the outcome. This allows to speculate and to set up a prediction on the raw material situation in the next 3-5 years.

During my presentation, I will address key trends in the automotive power market space, challenges the industry is facing, as well as how semiconductor makers can contribute in overcoming them.

The mobility industry is experiencing the most dramatic changes since the invention of the internal combustion engine and the standardization of the manufacturing process. Society and governments are striving for zero-emission transport, while car manufacturers seek the most efficient ways to produce low-cost, long-distance electric vehicles. In this context, inverter efficiency has become a critical performance parameter, and semiconductors with low-loss switching energy, such as SiC and GaN, are gaining prominence. This keynote addresses the successful development and results of a three-phase GaN-based inverter reference design with a 400V bus voltage and 350ARMS current. The discussion will cover significant steps from semiconductor chip design through module development to full current inverter operation, explaining the chosen solutions and presenting the results. The main challenges include designing a robust high-current (>100A) GaN die with stable parameters under operational conditions, achieving a 50% improvement in on-resistance from the first to the second generation, ensuring the semiconductor die meets a high breakdown voltage of >1600V, and driving multiple GaN dies in parallel to achieve equal current sharing.

Inverters and thus power semiconductors, play a central role in electrification and are key for modern electric vehicles’ properties. Originated from silicon IGBTs, new technologies have established in the form of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors. They can be used to achieve significantly higher system efficiencies and are state-of-the-art in the Volkswagen vehicle platforms currently under development. Not least because of the high cost of SiC semiconductors, GaN semiconductors are considered a potential successor technology.

The world’s need for more efficient power solutions together with Net Zero initiatives are driving development for GaN on silicon as a solution for voltage nodes up to 650 V. Building on market insertion for lower voltage applications (e.g., efficient USB-C chargers), fabless and specialty foundries are rapidly developing the technology for higher voltage commercial and automotive applications. The successful development of viable GaN on silicon technology for these applications requires a paradigm shift for technology innovation. For over 50 years, most semiconductor innovation has focused on CMOS silicon where device design and fabrication have been the key enablers. In these instances, the starting materials, silicon wafers, have been a commodity and not an area of innovation and development. For GaN on silicon, this is no longer the case; the key enabler and differentiator is at the materials/epiwafer level. Advancing GaN on silicon requires fundamental materials engineering to address inherent strain and thermal challenges. Specifically, the enabling innovation is in the epitaxial engineering of the growth process, thus overcoming technological challenges at the materials level. To demonstrate the shift in the innovation landscape, data for 650 e/d mode GaN on silicon HEMTs will be presented along with a roadmap to higher voltage nodes.

Wide bandgap semiconductors such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors have emerged as crucial materials for advancing energy efficiency, particularly in the transportation sector. Beside integrated device manufacturers (IDM), foundries play an important role in the necessary upscaling of SiC and GaN manufacturing and in enabling access for fabless and fab-lite companies. The presentation will provide an overview of X-FAB as a leading foundry for automotive, industrial and medical applications and of the power electronics market from a froundry perspective, with specific focus on SiC and GaN. Beside the advantages of SiC and GaN for achieving power efficiency and and carbon neutrality goals, the presentation will also cover the challenges associated with integration SiC and GaN manufacturing into a CMOS manufacturing process. Finally, the presentation will conclude with an outlook of X-FAB’s technology- and manufacturing strategy for wide bandgap semiconductors.

The microelectronics industry, with its multiple applications across sectors including automotive, defense, health, energy and digital, is considered strategic in Europe. It is the focus of many public funding opportunities. The European semiconductor industry faces fierce competition at global scale. Europe has a strategic positioning in terms of innovation capacity, but factories tend to be located elsewhere due to a less favorable cost structure and massive public support in Asia. This is especially true for wafer production and front-end manufacturing, where the required investments are huge and increase with the performance of the most advanced chips. The European semiconductor ecosystem benefited from significant public funding in 2018 and 2023 through the IPCEI on Microelectronics (€1.9 billion for 43 projects in 4 Member States plus the United Kingdom) and the IPCEI ME/CT (€8.1 billion for 68 projects in 14 Member States) aimed at bolstering the European technological leadership, transforming it into market opportunities, and coordinating innovating players at all levels of the value chain . In addition, in 2022, the European Commission launched the European Chips Act, which facilitates the funding of first-of-a-kind microelectronic gigafactories in Europe, in order to strengthen the resilience of European industry with regards to these key enabling technologies. european economics has supported 34 projects in the microelectronics industry as part of these initiatives and has contributed in securing a total of €11.7 billion for its clients (wafer manufacturers, IDMs and foundries).

Silicon Carbide has emerged as a promising material for power semiconductors, owing to its higher bandgap compared to Silicon. The higher bandgap enables unipolar power switches in the kilo volt range, bringing significant benefits in terms of efficiency and power density. As a consequence, SiC is already seeing mass adoption in various applications. However, several challenges still remain. In this presentation, the key benefits of SiC as well as the challenges in mass adoption of SiC are discussed. It will be explained how Sanan Semiconductors is working to solve some of these challenges, with its vertically integrated SiC production, i.e., from substrate to devices