Silicon Works, a subsidiary of LG Group, recently announced the expansion of its semiconductor business, focusing on betting on silicon carbide PMICs and MCUs.

Editor’s note: This article is from the micro-channel public number “Semiconductor Industry observers” (ID: icbank), Author: Qiu Liting.

Recently, according to Korean media reports, many industry insiders revealed that Silicon Works, a subsidiary of LG Group, recently announced the expansion of its semiconductor business, focusing on silicon carbide PMICs and MCUs.

It is understood that silicon chip companies are more often known in the industry for their driver IC products. This big move to the silicon carbide chip field not only revealed its development plan after the spin-off from LG Group, but also confirmed from the side that silicon carbide is becoming a rising star in the automotive field.

Great silicon carbide

Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as moissanite and emery, is an inorganic substance with a chemical formula of SiC. It uses quartz sand, petroleum coke (or coal coke), wood chips (salt is needed to produce green silicon carbide), etc. The raw materials are smelted at high temperature in a resistance furnace.

As a representative of the third generation of semiconductors, silicon carbide materials have a wide band gap, high breakdown electric field, high thermal conductivity, high electron saturation rate and higher radiation resistance, so they are more suitable for Production of high-temperature, high-frequency, anti-radiation and high-power devices, so it is particularly widely used in power semiconductors such as IGBTs and MOSFETs.

Essence Securities’ Li Zhe team pointed out in a previous research report that although current power devices are still mainly carbon-based, silicon carbide-based devices are more suitable for power devices with low energy loss, high pressure resistance, and high temperature resistance. The potential to replace carbon-based devices.

Specifically, compared with silicon-based MOSFETs, silicon carbide-based MOSFETs have a highly stable crystal structure, and the operating temperature can reach 600 ℃; the breakdown field strength is more than ten times that of silicon, so the blocking voltage is higher; The conduction loss is much smaller than that of silicon devices, and changes little with temperature; the thermal conductivity is almost 2.5 times that of silicon materials, and the saturated electron drift rate is twice that of silicon, so it can work at higher frequencies.

Based on these characteristics, the silicon carbide terminal market is mainly for new energy vehicles and photovoltaic services, especially for new energy vehicles such as OBC, DC/DC, inverters, charging piles, and photovoltaic inverters. Need to use a lot of power devices.

At present, silicon carbide is the most mature wide-bandgap semiconductor material. Countries around the world attach great importance to its research and have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in active development. The United States, Europe, Japan, China, etc. The corresponding research plan:

beautyChina: In January 2014, US President Barack Obama personally led the establishment of the third-generation wide-bandgap semiconductor industry alliance represented by SiC. Behind this move is the strong support of the United States for the third-generation wide-bandgap semiconductor industry represented by SiC semiconductors.

Europe: Infineon of Germany and 17 European companies jointly established Smart PM (Smart Power Management) organization to expand the application of silicon carbide in power supplies and electrical equipment. The European Nanotechnology Advisory Committee (ENIAC) “High Efficiency Electric Vehicle Program” focuses on the research and development of silicon carbide power devices in the application of new electric vehicles, led by Infineon.

Japan: The Japanese government included SiC in the “Prime Minister’s Strategy” in 2013, and believes that 50% of energy saving in the future will be achieved through it, creating a new era of clean energy. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan is actively carrying out the research and development and production of silicon carbide, promoting the application of silicon carbide in the fields of communication power supply, hybrid electric vehicles, renewable energy inverters, and industrial motor drives.

China: In 2016, the State Council of my country issued the “Thirteenth Five-Year” National Science and Technology Innovation Plan, which clearly mentioned the acceleration of breakthroughs in third-generation semiconductor materials.

Automakers’ plans to move forward

Since April 2016, Tesla Model 3 first adopted an inverter with silicon carbide SiC MOSFET as a power module. Up to now, more than 20 car manufacturers worldwide have used in-vehicle charging systems Silicon carbide power devices.

The boom in the silicon carbide market has led to an influx of a large number of semiconductor manufacturers. The largest share is Cree in the United States. According to Yole’s latest report, it accounts for 62% of the entire SiC power device market.

When these semiconductor manufacturers are crazy about it, auto manufacturers can’t bear the impulse. In recent years, they have moved frequently.

  • Toyota

As a world-renowned car manufacturer, Toyota is obviously very concerned about this aspect. In April 2020, Denso and Toyota jointly established “MIRISE Technologies” to conduct research and development of next-generation advanced automotive semiconductors. MIRISE will combine Toyota’s experience in complete vehicles and Denso in parts and components, and commit to three technical fields: power electronics, sensors, and SoC, further highlighting their emphasis on automotive semiconductors.

It is reported that Toyota Central R&D Laboratory and Denso CorporationIn May 2014, they began to cooperate in the development of SiC semiconductor materials. In May 2014, they officially released components based on SiC semiconductor devices-Power Control Units (PCU) for new energy vehicles.

  • Volkswagen

Volkswagen also has a layout in power semiconductors. One is Cree, which has become the exclusive partner of Volkswagen’s FAST (Future Automotive Supply Tracks) SiC silicon carbide project. The second is Infineon, which has become a strategic partner of Volkswagen’s FAST project. The cooperation point is concentrated on the power module of Volkswagen’s MEB electric drive control solution.

Cree was originally a major international supplier of SiC materials and wafers. Volkswagen’s lock-in has undoubtedly opened up a broader market for it. Infineon ranks among the top three in the global automotive semiconductor market such as MOSFET and IGBT.

  • Honda

Honda Motor Company, Nissan Motor Company and Rohm Corporation have conducted years of cooperative research on HEV/EV application of SiC semiconductor technology. Honda and Rohm have jointly developed a high-power power module using SiC semiconductor devices, changing all diodes and transistors of converters and inverters from silicon devices to SiC devices.

  • Ford

At the end of 2015, Ford announced plans to invest USD 4.5 billion in electric vehicle projects. In recent years, Ford has conducted investment research on the application of SiC/GaN devices in hybrid vehicles.

The SiC market is exploding, there is no doubt about this. Yole Développement predicts in the Power SiC 2018: Materials, Devices and Applications report that the use of silicon carbide in the main inverter will lead to “the compound annual growth rate of the SiC market reaching 108% from 2017 to 2023.”

Yole found that almost all automakers will use SiC in their main inverters in the next few years. In particular, all Chinese automotive OEMs are actively considering the use of SiC.

Faced with such a huge demand, domestic manufacturers will certainly not miss it, but withThe giants are slightly behind. According to data, in the past year in my country, the total investment in semiconductors nationwide has exceeded 70 billion, and there are 6.5 billion SiC-related projects, many of which are Sanan Optoelectronics, Zhongke Steel Research, Tiantong Co., Ltd. and other enterprises. According to relevant sources, the current growth rate of silicon carbide devices in my country is extremely rapid, especially in the context of energy conservation and environmental protection, more and more domestic enterprises have begun to use silicon carbide devices on a large scale.

Driven by the huge market demand, a number of outstanding companies have emerged in the country and even have a place in the global market, and the entire industry chain is close to achieving national production substitution. It is reported that in terms of R&D and manufacturing of SiC power devices, domestic semiconductor companies include Yang Jie Electronics, Basic Semiconductor, Suzhou Nengxun High Energy Semiconductor, Zhuzhou CRRC Times, CLP 55, Sanan Optoelectronics, etc.

As an automobile company, BYD is also actively deploying silicon carbide. It is reported that BYD has invested heavily in the layout of the third-generation semiconductor material SiC, and will integrate the entire industry chain of SiC-based semiconductors such as materials (high-purity silicon carbide powder), single crystal, epitaxy, chips, and packaging, and is committed to reducing the manufacturing of SiC devices. Cost, speed up its application in the field of electric vehicles.

In a recent report, BYD Semiconductor Product Director Yang Qinyao said that BYD’s automotive-grade IGBT has reached the fifth generation, the silicon carbide MOSFET has reached the third generation, and the fourth generation is under development. It is currently planning to build its own production line and is expected to have its own production line next year.

Tire 1s who look forward to your eyes

Similarly, there are Tire 1 manufacturers who have begun to take a fancy to the silicon carbide field and are trying to make investment arrangements. Tier1 (Tier One) means Tier One supplier to equipment manufacturers.

Bosch has to mention that in October 2019, Bosch announced in a high profile that it would start silicon carbide-related businesses. The power silicon carbide semiconductor production base is located in Reutlingen, Germany, which mainly produces silicon carbide wafers and MOSFETs.

Harald Kroege, Board Member of Boschr pointed out that this will be the largest investment in Bosch’s 133-year history, re-emphasizing the importance of silicon carbide (SiC) as a semiconductor material in the automotive industry. The last time that sparked a boom in silicon carbide discussions was the strategic cooperation between Volkswagen, Cree and Infineon.

At the same time, Bosch also disclosed the technology roadmap of its silicon carbide products, bare chips, which are expected to be on the market at the end of 2021. The discrete device MOSFET will probably be available in early 2022, based on matching customer needs.

ZF, headquartered in Germany, and Cree, a silicon carbide semiconductor company in the United States, announced the establishment of a strategic partnership, and plans to bring SiC electric drive systems to the market by 2022.

In April 2019, ZF’s first electric drive system using SiC technology has been used in the electric racing car of Venturi, France. The SiC electric drive system has higher energy conversion efficiency. ZF’s goal is not only electric racing, it plans to mass-apply SiC electric drive systems to passenger cars within 3-4 years.

There is also Delphi, which announced in September that it plans to launch an inverter based on SiC chips early in the next decade. It believes that the 800V silicon carbide inverter is “one of the core components of the next generation of high-efficiency electric and hybrid vehicles.” It has reached an eight-year project with a total of US$2.7 billion with a multinational OEM. The project is expected to be implemented in 2022, and the initial launch will be a high-performance electric vehicle running at 800V.

Looking at the domestic market, Huawei, which “does not build cars,” said it will be a supplier of auto parts that will directly supply OEMs with its products. It is also considered Tier 1. In 2019, Hubble Technology Investment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Huawei, invested in Shandong Tianyue Advanced Materials Technology Co., Ltd. holds 10% of the shares. In December 2020, an enterprise check showed that Hubble Technology Investment Co., Ltd. invested in the silicon carbide epitaxial wafer supplier Hantian Tiancheng, and the subscribed capital exceeded 9.77 million yuan.

With the cross-field integration of new technologies, the automotive industry has ushered in major changes. These Tier1 manufacturers have also started their transformation to technology leaders.

Summary

Obviously, now silicon carbide has become the focus of the layout of domestic and foreign car factories, whether it is to adopt the supplier’s silicon carbide products or invest in the research and development of silicon carbide, in a word, today, the explosion of new energy vehicles has completely carbonized Silicon pushed to the pinnacle of the technology wave.

The transition from silicon (Si) to silicon carbide (SiC) is no longer a question that requires us to consider whether and when it will happen, but we are already in it. Fully participate in the tremendous changes in many industries. The future of these industries will never be immutable, and may have unprecedented changes. And those manufacturers that can quickly adapt to these changes will surely reap fruitful results.