ST: Vertically integrated silicon carbide supply chain, expanding from automotive to industry

Recently, at the STMicroelectronics Industrial Tour in Beijing, Francesco Muggeri, Vice President of Regional Marketing and Applications for Power Discrete and Analog Devices in Asia Pacific, STMicroelectronics, introduced STMicroelectronics' silicon carbide product line. Muggeri said that STMicroelectronics' silicon carbide products are currently widely used in the automotive industry and are actively moving into the industrial field.

According to information disclosed at the 2019 Investor Relations Day, STMicroelectronics' silicon carbide output value was US$100 million in 2018, and is expected to double to US$200 million in 2019. Currently, STMicroelectronics is the world's number one supplier of automotive silicon carbide MOSFETs, with more than 20 car manufacturers cooperating with it, and more than 10 mass-produced models. These include the eight major European car manufacturers, Japanese car manufacturers such as Renault Nissan and Mitsubishi, and Korean car manufacturers such as Hyundai Kia, all of which have extensive cooperation with STMicroelectronics.

For this reason, STMicroelectronics has set a medium-term goal of exceeding 30% market share in silicon carbide by 2025.

In terms of technology, STMicroelectronics is developing the next generation of trench technology for silicon carbide, which will continuously reduce the size of devices. In terms of production lines, STMicroelectronics has acquired most of the shares of Norstel AB, allowing the company to independently produce SiC epitaxy. In addition, STMicroelectronics has signed a multi-year silicon carbide supply agreement with Cree-Wolfspeed to ensure stable production capacity.

"In the past few years, there has been a shortage of SiC substrates, which is an important reason why we are actively deploying production lines. Starting this month, a new silicon carbide plant will be built next to the Catania plant in Italy. In addition, when we do epitaxy ourselves, we will become proactive and do not need American suppliers to provide products, which is very important for the Chinese market." Muggeri said.

Muggeri emphasized that in the field of power devices, STMicroelectronics provides standard modules and solutions in addition to discrete components to meet customers' plug-and-play needs. At present, these modules are mainly used in the automotive market, but in the future they will also be suitable for high-power industrial markets.

Additional information about silicon carbide technology

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a wide bandgap material that has many advantages over silicon, such as higher operating temperatures, improved heat dissipation, and lower switching and conduction losses. However, wide bandgap materials are more difficult to mass produce than silicon-based materials.

As shown in the figure, compared with silicon technology, silicon carbide has significant advantages in power density, temperature effect, etc.

The advantages of silicon carbide include the following:

Higher performance and operating voltage

Very low power losses
Intrinsic SiC body diode (MOSFET) (4-quadrant switching operation)
Faster and more reliable switching than silicon
Smaller chip size at the same breakdown voltage
Higher energy efficiency
High thermal conductivity

Higher operating frequency

Lower switching losses and superior diode switching performance
Smaller and lighter systems

Higher operating temperature

Operating temperature up to 200°C
Reduced heat dissipation requirements, can be used in lightweight systems, and extend service life

Easy to drive

Fully compatible with standard gate drivers,
making design simpler

STMicroelectronics’ History as a Silicon Carbide Developer

STMicroelectronics has been engaged in the research and development of silicon carbide technology since 1996. High quality, long life and competitive cost are the basic requirements for launching a new technology in the semiconductor market. STMicroelectronics overcame the challenges of mass production of this wide bandgap material and started production of its first SiC diode in 2004. In 2009, STMicroelectronics' first SiC MOSFET went into production, and since then, 1200V SiC MOSFETs and power Schottky diodes have been added to complete the original 650V product portfolio.

STMicroelectronics' 6-inch silicon carbide wafers went into production in 2017, and the expansion of production scale will help reduce chip costs and increase market supply to meet the needs of a growing number of SiC applications (including more solar inverters, industrial motor drives, home appliances and power adapters).