STMicroelectronics and Soitec announced the next stage of their cooperation on Silicon Carbide (SiC) substrates. Accordingly, ST has qualified Soitec’s SiC substrate technology planned over the next 18 months.

The goal of this cooperation is the adoption by ST of Soitec’s SmartSiC technology for its future 200mm substrate manufacturing. Thus, feeding its devices and modules manufacturing business, with volume production expected in the midterm.

“The transition to 200mm SiC wafers will bring substantial advantages to our automotive and industrial customers as they accelerate the transition toward electrification of their systems and products. It is important in driving economies of scale as product volumes ramp,” said Marco Monti, President Automotive and Discrete Group, STMicroelectronics.

In addition, Monti said, “We have chosen a vertically integrated model to maximize our know-how across the full manufacturing chain, from high-quality substrates to large-scale front- and back-end production. The goal of the technology cooperation with Soitec is to continue to improve our manufacturing yields and quality.”

Disruptive Compound IC Material

Bernard Aspar, Chief Operating Officer of Soitec, said, “The automotive industry is facing major disruption with the advent of electric vehicles. Our cutting-edge SmartSiC technology, which adapts our unique SmartCut process to silicon carbide semiconductors, will play a key role in accelerating their adoption.”

Furthermore, Aspar said the combination of Soitec’s SmartSiC substrates with STMicroelectronics’ industry-leading silicon carbide technology and expertise is a game- changer for automotive chip manufacturing that will set new standards.

SiC is a disruptive compound semiconductor material with intrinsic properties providing superior performance and efficiency over silicon in key, high-growth power applications for electric mobility and industrial processes, among others. Moreover, it allows for more efficient power conversion, lighter and more compact designs, and overall system-design cost savings – all key parameters and factors for success in automotive and industrial systems.

Transitioning from 150mm to 200mm wafers will enable a substantial capacity increase, with almost twice the useful area for manufacturing integrated circuits, delivering 1.8 – 1.9 times as many working chips per wafer.

SmartSiC is a proprietary Soitec technology which uses Soitec proprietary SmartCut technology, to split a thin layer of a high quality SiC ‘donor’ wafer, and bond it on top of a low resistivity ‘handle’ polySiC wafer. The engineered substrate then improves device performance and manufacturing yields. Hence, the prime quality SiC ‘donor’ wafer can be reused multiple times, significantly reducing the overall energy consumption required to produce it.