Meeting Commercial Demands With XM3 Module Platform


While silicon carbide (SiC) is still considered a relatively new material in the semiconductor market, it is now used in power circuitry that supports our everyday lifestyle — from the data centers that deliver our emails, to solar power grids that provide energy to offices and homes, to electric cars and trains we use to commute, and in factory equipment and robots that manufacture the goods... » read more

GaN on SiC: The Only Viable Long-Term Solution for 5G


The 5G wave that’s been building for many years will finally come to shore in 2019. Early (but extremely limited) service rollouts will gain much fanfare and the first round of 5G-enabled devices will begin to hit markets. Wider commercial deployments, however, are still off in the distance and will be a slow but growing wave from 2020 to 2025. CCS Insight predicts 1 billion 5G users globally... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 31


GaN-on-SOI power semis At the recent IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), Imec and KU Leuven presented a paper on a gallium-nitride (GaN) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology for use in developing GaN power devices. With GaN-on-SOI technology, researchers have developed a 200-volt GaN power semiconductor device with an integrated driver and fast switching performance. ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 23


Gallium oxide transistors At the recent IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), Cornell University and Hosei University presented a paper on a gallium oxide vertical transistor with a record breakdown voltage. Crystalline beta gallium oxide is a promising wide bandgap semiconductor material, which is used for power semiconductor applications. Gallium oxide has a large bandgap of... » read more

Where Technology Breakthroughs Are Needed


After years of delays, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is finally in production at the 7nm logic node with 5nm in the works. EUV, a next-generation lithography technology, certainly will help chipmakers migrate to the next nodes. But EUV doesn’t solve every problem. Nor does it address all challenges in the semiconductor industry. Not by a long shot. To be sure, the industry needs... » read more

Replenishing The Grid With A SiC-Based Bi-Directional On-Board Charger


Range anxiety and charger availability have long been the main hurdles to the adoption of electric vehicles. But even as car makers have demonstrated their batteries can go longer distances and charging stations have proliferated, challenges with EV charging remain as well as opportunities to load balance power grids. The migration to electric vehicles also means looking at how they can bett... » read more

Accelerating Silicon Carbide Power Electronics Devices Into High Volume Manufacturing With Mechanical Dicing System


Silicon carbide (SiC) is a wideband gap semiconductor material that has huge potential to enrich our lives by enabling better technology with improved connectivity and efficiency. It offers many advantages over common silicon (Si) for power applications as it can be doped much higher than silicon to achieve optimal blocking voltage. In addition, SiC high thermal conductivity characteristic enab... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers For some time, Intel has experienced supply constraints and shortages for its 14nm chip products. Apparently, the company is still having issues with both 14nm and 10nm. “Despite our best efforts, we have not yet resolved this challenge,” according to a statement from Michelle Johnston Holthaus, executive vice president and general manager of the Sales, Marketing and Communicati... » read more

RF GaN Gains Steam


Wide-bandgap semiconductors are hot topics these days. One wide-bandgap semi type--silicon carbide (SiC)--is the talk of the town and is gaining steam in electric vehicles and other systems. But let’s not forget about gallium nitride (GaN). GaN, a binary III-V material, has 10 times the breakdown field strength with double the electron mobility than silicon. GaN is used for LEDs, power ... » read more

New Trends In Wafer Bonding


Unable to scale horizontally, due to a combination of lithography delays and power constraints, manufacturers are stacking devices vertically. This has become essential as the proliferation of mobile devices drives demand for smaller circuit footprints, but the transition isn't always straightforward. Three-dimensional integration schemes take many forms, depending on the required interconne... » read more

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