Established in June 2017, Clas SIC Wafer Fab is the world’s first open foundry dedicated exclusively to producing silicon carbide power semiconductors. Their capabilities range from process and device development, sampling and medium volume production on 150mm wafers.
Lochgelly-based company SCS International Ltd is currently engaged in discussions with multiple companies regarding the establishment of silicon-carbide manufacturing in India, though CFO Scott Forrest declined to name them publicly.
Power Semiconductor Foundry
The semiconductor industry has experienced an explosion of growth due to the surge in AI, 5G, and electric vehicle demand. To keep up with technological innovation and invest in new production capacity while keeping costs per wafer down using advanced analytics and data collection at production sites to enhance efficiency and quality. Foundries must stay ahead of this game by keeping abreast of technological advancement and making necessary investments while remaining efficient with cost management for wafer production capacity expansion and new production capacity investments.
As a result, many companies are restructuring their foundry businesses, providing specialized services in key markets like power semiconductors. Furthermore, many foundries are strengthening their R&D capacities so that they are prepared to accommodate future technologies like 3nm and 2nm nodes which offer increased performance with reduced energy use.
Power semiconductors have applications spanning industrial equipment and factory automation. Recently, due to surges in demand from electric vehicle manufacturing and data center construction projects, manufacturers are experiencing shortages of multiple types of power semiconductors needed in small quantities. To meet this need, Toppan recently launched a contract manufacturing handling service dedicated to producing power semiconductors; initially offering porting2 and manufacturing processes for 6-inch wafer processes before expanding this offering up to 8-inch processes in March 2025.
Power Semiconductor Devices
Power semiconductor devices are at the core of any power electronic system. They convert electrical energy into usable form for integrated circuits and systems like electric vehicles, renewable energy plants and cloud computing services. Maximizing device efficiency is key for improving reliability, size and cost when building these systems.
Silicon bipolar junction transistors (IGBTs) and metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) have been widely utilized over time, yet are beginning to reach their limits, necessitating more efficient devices with wider bandwidths, quicker rise/fall times, lower on-resistances, higher current densities and temperature capabilities, as well as improved switching performance.
Wide-bandgap semiconductors such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) offer great potential to meet this objective, due to their wide bandgap properties that reduce on-resistance by using thinner layers with lower on resistance and stronger breakdown strength without compromising other essential properties such as electron mobility and thermal conductivity.
Clas-SiC is the world’s first open foundry dedicated to producing silicon-carbide power semiconductors, partnering with leading device designers to accelerate R&D and reduce time-to-market. When testing high voltage devices with Keithley SourceMeter SMU instruments or building your own devices, please remember they require special care in handling and care during characterization with high voltage power semiconductors – to prevent shock or injury!
Power Semiconductor Development
As global power systems adapt to increasing energy demands, power semiconductors must adapt accordingly in order to efficiently convert and regulate electrical current and voltage. Silicon carbide (SiC) compound semiconductor technology enables these new devices, but device designers must overcome significant hurdles to meet ever-increasing performance and size requirements.
Karan Chechi, Research Director at TechSci Research, emphasizes the difficulty in simultaneously increasing efficiency while meeting thermal management challenges. As such, industries are turning towards wide bandgap semiconductors like SiC and GaN with superior properties when compared with conventional silicon devices – leading to greater efficiencies, reduced losses, lighter systems that meet sustainability goals – driving innovation within industry.
Enhancing device reliability is another major challenge, and requires careful design and testing in order to maintain high performance at higher temperatures without losing stability. Keithley SourceMeter SMU instruments provide useful test tools that allow accurate measurements of current, voltage, temperature and more before circuits are even assembled on wafers.
Device characterization tools must also be designed for use in harsh environments, which is particularly crucial because power devices often produce high voltages which could be fatal if handled incorrectly. Safety must always be put first when handling such high voltages; simple precautions such as connecting measurement common to protective earth or safety ground may help ensure this.
Power Semiconductor Manufacturing
Operating as the world’s first open foundry dedicated to manufacturing Silicon Carbide power semiconductors in an ISO Class 5 clean room facility, SiC Power operates as the world’s premier source for accelerated process R&D, device/IC design, sampling, up to medium volume production on 150mm wafers, as well as rapid process R&D for medium volume production on 150mm wafers.
After the front-end process is completed, each wafer undergoes various electrical tests to ensure each chip functions as intended. The percentage of chips which pass these tests – known as yield – varies among manufacturers but could reach as little as 30%; meaning only one-third of wafer’s chips work properly! In order to prevent defective parts being assembled into expensive packages such as electric vehicles (EV), testing must occur prior to shipping out wafers for use in manufacturing new devices.
Technology advances are expected to drive global power semiconductor market expansion. Industrial automation also drives market expansion. Furthermore, numerous government initiatives to strengthen semiconductor industries around the globe should help increase growth.
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