Power Electronics Europe Issue 4 - November 2022

10 SILICON CARBIDE www.wolfspeed.com Issue 4 2022 Power Electronics Europe www.power-mag.com Wolfspeed grows to meet supply challenge and launches high performance Gen 3+ die Silicon Carbide (SiC), known for long as the ideal semiconductor technology for power devices, has with design and manufacturing innovation not only increased its share of the existing market but enabled new applications, such as electric vehicles (EVs), by offering higher power density, better high-speed switching performance, higher breakdown field, higher thermal conductivity, higher chip temperatures, and lower leakage currents than are possible with Silicon (Si). Anri Mikirtichev, Product Marketing Engineer, Wolfspeed, Amy Romero, Power Die Applications Engineer, Wolfspeed Wolfspeed has led the SiC industry with the first commercial wafers in 1991, diodes in 2001, and MOSFETs in 2011. The company’s technology development has supported its relentless march toward larger wafer diameters and lower costs, higher quality, and greater device performance. The company has more than 35 years of SiC development experience and over 7 trillion device field hours. This widely recognized success is evident from its recent selection by General Motors (GM) as their strategic SiC power device supplier [1]. GM is participating in the Wolfspeed Assurance of Supply Program (WS AoSP) for domestic, sustainable, and scalable materials in EV production. It comes as no surprise that the same success was recently responsible for a rapid, wafer-shortfall-inducing growth in SiC demand from EV, solar and datacenter applications. Yole Devéloppement forecasts the EV market the biggest opportunity for SiC, worth over $5 billion in 2027, while the charging infrastructure market continues growing at 90% CAGR through 2025. Yole expects SiC to gain market share in the long term as companies like Wolfspeed overcome all challenges, including those related to supply, cost, and performance (Figure 1). Resolving supply & cost challenges Commanding nearly 60% of the N-type SiC substrate market in 2018-2019 as estimated by Yole, Wolfspeed is naturally the supplier to resolve supply challenges due to growing market confidence in SiC. The company is investing $1 billion in a new 200-mm wafer-capable Mohawk Valley Fab (MVF) [2] and converting its existing facility into a materials mega- factory. While competitors are still using 150- mm fabs, Wolfspeed is leveraging vertical integration and internal “cycles of learning” to address demand and cost with 200-mm wafers from the new automotive-qualified automated facility. The MVF construction is complete, the first 200-mm wafers demonstrated, and the fab is undergoing qualification for mass production. Figure 2: Wolfspeed is leading the industry in taking 200-mm Silicon Carbide Figure 1: EV/HEV market outlook to 2030. Source: Power SiC Materials, Devices and Applications, Yole Devéloppement