October / November 2021

OPINION 5 www.power-mag.com Issue 4 2021 Power Electronics Europe With around $9.5 billion by 2026, the Silicon MOSFET market will grow at roughly 4 % between 2020 and 2026. Leading MOSFET manufacturers are based in Europe, United-States and Japan, whit a big push from China. The ranking of top players has not evolved significantly since 2019 as 2020 MOSFET market was affected by COVID-19 crisis. Main MOSFET players are also involved in other power electronics technologies, such as IGBT, GaN or SiC. Automotive, including EV, will boost the demand for Silicon power MOSFETs due to increasing adoption of auxiliary systems and electrification. Auxiliary motor drives boost low voltage MOSFETs, while electrification boosts high voltage MOSFETs that are included in DC/DC converter or on-board charger systems. The two segments together are today 21 % of the MOSFET market. They will increase to 32 % by 2026, according to market researcher Yole. In addition to performance improvements, Silicon MOSFET die costs will be further reduced thanks to a 12-inch (300 mm) Silicon wafer transition that will make their cost increasingly competitive. In this ecosystem, Infineon Technologies keeps its leading position thanks to its large MOSFET portfolio and its CoolMOS technology – along with its 300 mm wafer manufacturing capability. In the MOSFET ranking, onsemi reaches the 2nd position, with 13 % market share , with leadership in low-voltage automotive market segment. Chinese companies are also gaining market share via acquisitions and are also investing in technology knowledge. Five years back, Chinese products were believed to be lower performance than Europe, Japan, or American manufacturers for high-end components like Superjunction MOSFETs. However, this is changing. Some Chinese companies can achieve similar performances to key MOSFET players. All in all, Chinese manufacturers are racing to capture a big portion of the MOSFET market. With $8.4 billion by 2026, the IGBT market will get a 7.5% growth between 2020 and 2026. IGBT modules segment will represent 81 % of the total market in 2026 during the same period, boosted by EV/HEVs adoption, which represented a market of $500 million in 2020 and which will grow with an impressive 23 % CAGR between 2020 and 2026. “This is due to the transition from ICE vehicles to EV/HEVs, which is being strongly driven by governments’ targets for CO 2 emissions reductions. This transition is further accelerating, due to President Biden’s action plans for the USA as well as the recent EU climate initiative in which all new cars registered in Europe from 2035 will be zero-emission. Therefore, the EV/HEV segment share will more than double by 2026. Charging infrastructure is also impacted by government decisions as the deployment of chargers is crucial for the expansion of electric vehicle uptake. Although charging infrastructure is still a small market for IGBTs, it is expected to increase by more than 300 % in the coming five years. More than 80 % of the market will be focused on the 600-1200V nominal voltage ranges by 2026. IGBT main manufacturers are spread all over the world, but Yole sees also an important growth of Chinese IGBT manufacturers, both foundries and IDMs. The ranking of main IGBT suppliers remains almost unchanged. The top 3 are Infineon Technologies, Mitsubishi Electric and onsemi. The adoption of Silicon Carbide-based power solutions is rapidly growing across the automotive market as the industry moves from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, enabling greater system efficiencies that result in electric cars with longer range and faster charging, while reducing cost, lowering weight and conserving space. In the industrial market, silicon carbide solutions enable smaller, lighter and more cost-effective designs, converting energy more efficiently to unlock new clean energy applications. To better support these growing markets, device manufacturers are interested in securing access to high-quality Silicon Carbide substrates to support their customers. Recently STMicroelectronics Wolfspeed and STMicroelectronics expanded their 150 mm SiC wafer supply agreement, as well earlier Infineon. The Japanese-based semiconductor manufacturer ROHM, together with Chinese Geely Automobile Group, have also entered into a strategic partnership to develop advanced technologies in the automotive field. Geely is working to extend the cruising range of electric vehicles while reducing battery costs and shortening charge times by developing high efficiency traction inverters and onboard charging systems that adopt ROHM’s SiC power devices. Also Gallium Nitride power devices are on the move into automotive applications. Canadian GaN Systems announced the signing of a capacity agreement with the BMW Group for automotive-grade GaN power transistors, which increase the efficiency and power density of critical applications in electric vehicles. BMW’s relationship with GaN Systems began more than four years ago when BMW’s engineers found that small size, lightweight, low-cost onboard chargers, DC/DC converters, and traction inverters were enabled by GaN. As electric vehicles become more prominent, the demand for critical semiconductor components such as GaN is only going to increase, BMW expects. Thus the automotive industry relies more and more on efficient power semiconductors and tries to secure their supply through such agreements, in case GaN Systems/BMW this is a multi-$100 million deal and in case ST Micro/Wolfspeed it is now worth more than $800 million – an example of their application is the drive inverter of Tesla’s Model 3. More on new developments in devices and applications are introduced in this issue. Enjoy reading! Achim Scharf PEE Editor Automotive Relies Increasingly on Power Semis