Showa Denko begins mass production of 6-inch single crystal SiC wafers

Article by: ACN Newswire

Showa Denko KK (SDK) has launched the mass production of single crystal silicon carbide (SiC) wafers with a diameter of 6 inches (150 mm), which are used as materials for epitaxial SiC wafers to be processed and install in SiC-based power semiconductors.

SiC power semiconductor has excellent heat resistance property and high withstand voltage much better than conventional silicon-based power semiconductors, which are the mainstream of power semiconductors at present. . The SiC power semiconductor contributes to the improvement of energy efficiency and downsizing of the power module. Therefore, the demand for SiC power semiconductors is increasing rapidly in various fields, especially those for xEVs, railcars, and industrial equipment.

As an independent supplier of SiC epitaxial wafers, SDK holds the largest global market share and provides electrical appliance manufacturers with the best SiC epitaxial wafers.

SDK considered in-house production of SiC wafers to improve the quality of our SiC epitaxial wafers and establish a stable supply system for them. From 2010 to 2015, SDK participated in the “Novel Semiconductor Power Electronics Project Realizing Low Carbon Emission Society”, a project hosted and entrusted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Organization for the Development of New Energy and Industrial Technologies (NEDO), aimed at establishing the technology for achieving a stable supply of large-diameter SiC wafers.

SDK was a member of the Research and Development Partnership for Future Power Electronics Technology, an association established as a joint organization of academia, industry and government to raise the technical level regarding next-generation power electronics . Additionally, in 2018, SDK took over the SiC wafer related assets of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Group (now Nippon Steel Group), and has been developing technologies for the mass production of SiC wafers ever since.

This time, SDK decided to launch in-house mass production of 6-inch SiC wafers, as many customers have adopted SDK’s epitaxial SiC wafers made from its in-house produced 6-inch SiC wafers. While continuing to purchase SiC wafers from partners to meet the growing demand for epitaxial SiC wafers for power semiconductors, SDK will diversify its sources of SiC wafers to establish a stable supply chain for wafers. SiC epitaxials.