Bosch announced two years ago that they would progress with the development of silicon carbide (SiC) chips and begin production, playing an important role in driving widespread adoption of electric vehicles.
Once renovated, Bosch’s Roseville plant will become part of their global semiconductor manufacturing network and produce SiC power semiconductors on 200mm wafers in 10,000 sqft clean rooms.
Tillämpningar
Bosch is one of the world’s premier automotive suppliers, and one of its key business sectors is the Mobility Division, offering innovative and integrated mobility solutions to vehicles and their users. Their portfolio includes electronics and sensors, software applications, automotive supplies and repair-shop concepts; technology services for vehicle dynamics control as well as an anti-skid system such as Bosch’s ESP anti-skid system – technologies which make vehicles safer, more comfortable and environmentally friendly.
The Bosch Group employs approximately 200,000 individuals worldwide and generated sales of 56.2 billion euros in 2023. Their products and services can be found everywhere from home appliances to automobiles; from electronic engine management systems and anti-skid ESP anti-skid systems. Furthermore, this innovative company pioneered many groundbreaking innovations such as electronic engine management systems as well as connected car driver assistance systems.
Bosch is expanding their silicon carbide (SiC) chip portfolio with the purchase of TSI Semiconductors in Roseville. SiC chips provide more efficient high-power applications than conventional silicon ones, making them suitable for electric car driving applications that need efficient power semiconductors to allow drivers to travel longer between charges. By 2030, this acquisition of the TSI plant will enable Bosch to increase significantly its global portfolio of SiC chips in response to growing interest in electromobility.
Processes
Bosch products that think for themselves, remote maintenance from 9,000 kilometers away and glasses with built-in cameras are all powered by semiconductors. Bosch has been specializing in semiconductor production for more than 60 years – at their Reutlingen plant since early 2021 producing silicon carbide (SiC) chips on 150 millimeter wafers to send out for customer validation tests; now their engineers are expanding clean room space at this site.
Bosch engineers follow 250 individual fabrication steps when producing a 300-millimeter wafer of SiC semiconductors, from transferring an integrated three-dimensional layout onto a wafer to depositing minute structures that measure fractions of micrometer. Finally, after etching, which creates an entirely unique circuit board containing thousands of identical devices on one wafer.
Bosch has expanded their manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand for SiC-based power semiconductors, which increase power density while simultaneously increasing range and improving recharging capabilities for electric vehicles. Bosch is leading an EUR89 million European Union-funded Transform project which seeks to develop an efficient European supply chain for SiC-based power electronics used in industrial drives, energy conversion and electric mobility applications. Bosch recently announced its plans to acquire TSI Semiconductors of Roseville, Calif. The deal will transform its facilities, which currently offer full range logic CMOS process technologies into a SiC foundry with production beginning on 200-millimeter wafers in 2026.
Wafers
Microchip semiconductors, also known as semiconductors, are found in practically every technical device today – from smartphones and televisions to dishwashers and electric vehicles. Bosch expects 25 of their SiC chips will be installed into every new car by 2025!
Bosch is responding to increased customer demand by transforming two plants, Reutlingen and Roseville, into dedicated wafer fabrication facilities specializing in 200mm (2.59-inch) wafers made of SiC. To meet rising demand, their engineers have devised an intricate manufacturing process and have already started using samples they produce as customer validation since 2021 at Reutlingen’s plant; production should start up again following a retooling phase at Roseville around 2026.
Bosch will use these specialized fabs to accelerate economies of scale required for SiC chip production, due to their relatively easy manufacturing processes and innovative material’s ability to store more electrical energy in smaller spaces – meaning electric cars can travel further while charging quicker.
Bosch’s investment in these fabs marks a key step toward meeting the global surge in electromobility demand and meeting it through SiC chip production on 300mm (11.8″) wafers by 2025. A similar fab in Dresden is set to start production.
Production
Bosch has successfully completed several years of development to launch volume production of power semiconductors composed of silicon carbide (SiC). These chips will play an essential part in electrifying modern vehicles.
Bosch Automotive Systems currently is the sole automotive supplier worldwide that is producing SiC wafers commercially, and this new plant expands their capacity to meet rising demand for these high-voltage semiconductors that enable electric vehicles (EVs) to travel further on each charge while charging more quickly with less energy consumption.
Bosch will open a new plant in Germany to complement their existing semiconductor production sites in Reutlingen and Dresden, which have seen more than 2.5 billion euros invested since 200 mm technology’s introduction, as well as billions for microelectronic research.
Bosch announced in 2022 that they would invest an additional 3 billion euros into their semiconductor business in Europe between now and 2026, including expanding the Reutlingen fab’s clean room space by 30% per year to meet growing SiC chip demand.
As part of its expansion plans, Bosch plans to purchase the TSI Semiconductors factory in Roseville, California, employing 250 workers. After an initial conversion phase and subsequent retooling effort, production should begin sometime around 2026.
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