Automakers bet on SiC
Latest update time：2021-01-13
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Recently, according to Korean media reports, several industry insiders revealed that Silicon Works, a subsidiary of LG Group, recently announced the expansion of its semiconductor business, focusing on silicon carbide PMIC and MCU.
It is understood that the silicon chip company was previously known in the industry for its driver IC products. This major move to the field of silicon carbide chips not only reveals its development plan after the spin-off from LG Group, but also indirectly confirms that silicon carbide is becoming a rising star in the automotive field.
Silicon Carbide
Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carbon silicon stone and corundum, is an inorganic substance with the chemical formula SiC. It is made of quartz sand, petroleum coke (or coal coke), sawdust (salt needs to be added when producing green silicon carbide) and other raw materials through high-temperature smelting in a resistance furnace.
As a representative of the third generation of semiconductors, silicon carbide material has a wide bandgap, high breakdown electric field, high thermal conductivity, high electron saturation rate and higher radiation resistance, making it more suitable for the manufacture of high-temperature, high-frequency, radiation-resistant and high-power devices. Therefore, it is particularly widely used in power semiconductors such as IGBT and MOSFET.
Li Zhe's team at Essence Securities pointed out in a previous research report that although current power devices are still mainly carbon-based, silicon carbide-based devices have excellent properties such as low energy loss, high voltage resistance, and high temperature resistance, which make them more suitable for use in power devices and are gradually replacing carbon-based devices.
Specifically, compared with silicon-based MOSFET, silicon carbide-based MOSFET has a highly stable crystal structure and an operating temperature of up to 600°C; 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 very little with temperature; the thermal conductivity is almost 2.5 times that of silicon material, and the saturated electron drift rate is twice that of silicon, so it can operate at a higher frequency.
Based on these characteristics, the silicon carbide terminal market mainly serves new energy vehicles and photovoltaics, especially in new energy vehicles, where new energy vehicle OBC, DC/DC, inverters, charging piles, and photovoltaic inverters require a large number 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 its active development. The United States, Europe, Japan, China and other countries have formulated corresponding research plans at the national level:
United States:
In January 2014, US President 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:
Germany's Infineon Technologies and 17 European companies jointly established the Smart PM (Smart Power Management) organization to expand the application of silicon carbide in power supplies and electrical equipment. The "High Efficiency Electric Vehicle Program" of the European Nanotechnology Advisory Committee (ENIAC) focuses on the application technology research and development of silicon carbide power devices in new electric vehicles, led by Infineon Technologies.
Japan:
The Japanese government included SiC in the "Prime Minister's Strategy" in 2013, believing 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 actively carries out the research and development and production of silicon carbide, and promotes the application of silicon carbide in the fields of communication power supply, hybrid vehicles, renewable energy inverters, industrial motor drives, etc.
China:
In 2016, China’s State Council issued the “13th Five-Year National Science and Technology Innovation Plan”, which explicitly mentioned accelerating breakthroughs in third-generation semiconductor materials.
Car manufacturers are planning before taking action
Since Tesla Model 3 first adopted an inverter with silicon carbide SiC MOSFET as the power module in April 2016, more than 20 automobile manufacturers around the world have used silicon carbide power devices in their on-board charging systems.
The booming silicon carbide market has triggered the influx of a large number of semiconductor manufacturers, among which Cree from the United States has the largest share. According to the latest report from Yole, it accounts for 62% of the entire SiC power device market.
While these semiconductor manufacturers are going crazy, automakers can no longer hold back their impulses and have been making frequent moves in recent years.
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Toyota
As a world-renowned automaker, 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's experience in components, focusing on three technical fields: power electronics, sensors, and SoCs, further highlighting their emphasis on automotive semiconductors.
It is reported that Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratory and Denso Corporation have been cooperating in the development of SiC semiconductor materials since 1980. In May 2014, they officially released a component based on SiC semiconductor devices - the power control unit (PCU) for new energy vehicles.
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public
Volkswagen also has a layout in power semiconductors. The first is Cree, which has become the exclusive partner of SiC silicon carbide for Volkswagen's FAST (Future Automotive Supply Tracks) project. The second is Infineon, which has become a strategic partner of Volkswagen's FAST project, focusing on the power modules in Volkswagen's MEB electric drive control solution.
Cree is already a major international supplier of SiC materials and wafers, and Volkswagen's lock-in will undoubtedly open up a wider market for it. Infineon ranks among the top three in the global automotive semiconductor market such as MOSFET and IGBT.
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Honda
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. have conducted cooperative research with Rohm on the application of SiC semiconductor technology in HEV/EV for many years. Honda and Rohm have jointly developed a high-power power module using SiC semiconductor devices, changing the diodes and transistors of the converter and inverter from silicon devices to SiC devices.
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Ford
At the end of 2015, Ford announced plans to invest $4.5 billion in electric vehicle projects. In recent years, Ford has invested in research on the application of SiC/GaN devices in hybrid vehicles.
There is no doubt that the market for SiC is exploding. Yole Développement predicts in its Power SiC 2018: Materials, Devices and Applications report that the adoption of silicon carbide in main inverters will lead to a “108% compound annual growth rate for the SiC market from 2017 to 2023.”
Yole found that almost all automakers will use SiC in the main inverter in the next few years. In particular, all Chinese automotive OEMs are actively considering the adoption of SiC.
Faced with such a huge demand, domestic manufacturers will certainly not miss it, but they are slightly behind the giants. According to data, in the past year, the total investment in semiconductors in my country exceeded 70 billion, and 6.5 billion involved in SiC-related projects, including Sanan Optoelectronics, China Steel Research Institute, Tiantong Shares and other companies. According to relevant sources, my country's current growth rate in silicon carbide devices is extremely rapid, especially in the context of energy conservation and environmental protection, more and more domestic companies are beginning to use silicon carbide devices on a large scale.
Driven by the huge market demand, a number of excellent companies have emerged in China, and even have a place in the global market. The entire industry chain is close to achieving full domestic substitution. It is reported that in the research and development and manufacturing of SiC power devices, domestic semiconductor companies include Yangjie Electronics, Basic Semiconductor, Suzhou Nengxun High Energy Semiconductor, Zhuzhou CRRC Times, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 55th Institute, Sanan Optoelectronics, etc.
As an automobile company, BYD is also actively developing silicon carbide. It is reported that BYD has invested heavily in the third-generation semiconductor material SiC, and will integrate the entire SiC-based semiconductor industry chain including materials (high-purity silicon carbide powder), single crystals, epitaxy, chips, and packaging, and is committed to reducing the manufacturing cost of SiC devices and accelerating their 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, silicon carbide MOSFET has reached the third generation, and the fourth generation is under development. Currently, the company is planning to build its own production line, which is expected to be in place by next year.
Tire 1s are waiting
Similarly, some Tier 1 manufacturers have begun to take a fancy to the silicon carbide field and try to make investments. Tier 1 (Tier One) refers to the first-tier supplier that supplies equipment manufacturers.
Bosch has to be mentioned. In October 2019, Bosch announced that it had started its silicon carbide-related business. The power silicon carbide semiconductor production base is located in Reutlingen, Germany, and mainly produces silicon carbide wafers and MOSFETs.
Harald Kroeger, a member of the Bosch board of directors, pointed out that this will be the largest investment in Bosch's 133-year history, once again emphasizing the importance of silicon carbide (SiC) as a semiconductor material in the automotive industry. The last time a wave of discussion about silicon carbide was triggered was the strategic cooperation between Volkswagen, Cree and Infineon.
At the same time, Bosch also disclosed the technical roadmap of its silicon carbide products. Bare chips are expected to be available at the end of 2021. Discrete MOSFET devices will probably be available in early 2022, based on matching customer needs.
ZF, headquartered in Germany, and Cree, an American silicon carbide semiconductor company, announced a strategic partnership and plan to bring SiC electric drive systems to market by 2022.
In April 2019, ZF's electric drive system using SiC technology was 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 cars, it plans to mass-apply SiC electric drive systems to passenger cars within 3-4 years.
And Delphi, which announced in September plans to launch SiC chip-based inverters early next decade, considers 800V silicon carbide inverters "one of the core components of the next generation of efficient electric and hybrid vehicles". It has agreed an eight-year, $2.7 billion project with a multinational OEM. The project is expected to start in 2022, initially launching high-performance electric vehicles running at 800V.
Looking at the domestic market, Huawei, which "does not manufacture cars", said it will become an automotive parts supplier that directly supplies products to vehicle manufacturers, which can be regarded as Tier 1. In 2019, Huawei's Hubble Technology Investment Co., Ltd. invested in Shandong Tianyue Advanced Materials Technology Co., Ltd., holding a 10% stake. In December 2020, Qichacha showed that Hubble Technology Investment Co., Ltd. invested in Hantian Tiancheng, a supplier of silicon carbide epitaxial wafers, with a subscribed capital of more than 9.77 million yuan.
With the integration of new technologies across fields, the automotive industry has ushered in major changes, and these Tier 1 manufacturers have also embarked on the road of transformation into technology leaders.
Summarize
Obviously, silicon carbide has now become the focus of domestic and foreign car manufacturers, whether they are using silicon carbide products from suppliers or investing in their own research and development of silicon carbide. In short, with the popularity of new energy vehicles today, silicon carbide has been completely pushed to the pinnacle of the technological wave.
The transition from silicon (Si) to silicon carbide (SiC) is no longer a question of whether or when it will happen, but we are already in it. We are fully involved in the great changes in many industries. The future of these industries will definitely not remain unchanged, and may undergo unprecedented changes. And those manufacturers who can quickly adapt to these changes will surely reap fruitful results.
*Disclaimer: This article is originally written by the author. The content of the article is the author's personal opinion. Semiconductor Industry Observer reprints it only to convey a different point of view. It does not mean that Semiconductor Industry Observer agrees or supports this point of view. If you have any objections, please contact Semiconductor Industry Observer.
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