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How ST Strategizes SiC to Power the Future of EVs

US$4 billion in capex. About 80% will be SiC. Emerging from a pilot line at Soitec’s SiC substrate performance and bring SmartSiC
devoted to its 300-mm wafer fabs and SiC Substrate Innovation Center within CEA-Leti technology to high-volume production at ST’s
manufacturing capacity, including its SiC in Grenoble, France, SmartSiC is made of a Catania fab and Soitec’s Bernin 4 fab.”
substrate initiative. very thin layer from a single-crystal SiC donor Merli said the medium-term vision of ST’s
wafer, transferred and bonded onto a highly collaboration with Soitec’s fab in Bernin,
BUILDING THE MANUFACTURING BASE conductive carrier wafer made of polycrystal- France, is to ensure a second qualified source
ST is transforming its manufacturing base to line SiC. Soitec claims SmartSiC substrates of 200-mm SmartSiC substrates. “While ST is
support future growth and improve profit- enable new levels of performance and energy investing heavily in its in-house SiC sub-
ability, with a strong focus on wide-bandgap efficiency compared with traditional bulk strate manufacturing to ramp up device and
semiconductors. On the SiC side, the chip- SiC through higher donor-wafer reusability, module manufacturing operations for global
maker said it is on track for a tenfold increase improved yields and lower die sizes. automotive and industrial customers, the
in front-end capacity over 2017. After demonstrating the quality and perfor- cooperation with Soitec promises further ben-
Last year, ST continued to ramp up its SiC mance of 150-mm SiC engineered substrates efits, including superior manufacturing yields
front-end device production in Ang Mo Kio, for high-voltage power devices, Soitec moved and additional support for the transition from
Singapore, and announced a plan to build a to the next step and released in May what it 150-mm to 200-mm wafers.”
US$730 million integrated SiC epitaxial sub-
strate manufacturing facility in Catania, Italy. MAKING SiC A DE FACTO TECHNOLOGY
Production is expected to start in 2023 and SiC is influencing the entire EV industry,
ramp up in 2024, said Merli. and Soitec wants to install SmartSiC as a
“The new facility we are building at the ST market standard for SiC wafers at 150 mm
Catania site in Italy is the first of its kind in and 200 mm.
Europe and will solidify our global SiC man- “To make it a market standard, we have
ufacturing presence, from front-end fabs in to work with the leaders to get the leaders
Catania and Ang Mo Kio to back-end fabs in to adopt it,” Sabonnadière said. “We’ve been
Bouskoura, Morocco, and Shenzhen, China, to fortunate to develop greatly in RF, where our
materials, product design, R&D and engineer- technology has become a global standard,”
ing in Catania and Norrköping, Sweden.” but in the EV sector, SmartSiC “won’t nec-
With these investments, Merli said, ST is essarily be the whole market, because [the
committed to ensuring production capacity Soitec’s Emmanuel Sabonnadière sector] is extremely burgeoning and several
for its global customer base across automotive technologies will develop in parallel. We’ll be
and industrial sectors as they pursue electrifi- claims is the world’s first bonding of a in the part of the market that is focused on
cation and digitization targets. “The new fabs 200-mm single-crystal SiC donor wafer onto a high performance and high reliability.”
represent a significant milestone on ST’s path 200-mm polycrystalline SiC handle wafer. Soitec’s strategy is to establish collab-
toward ensuring we deliver on our promise of “The larger the surface, the better the orations beyond its direct customers and
40% internal substrate sourcing by 2024.” bonding,” Emmanuel Sabonnadière, vice throughout the automotive supply chain,
ST is also committed to helping Europe president of the SiC program at Soitec, told EE including design houses, Tier 1s and car
implement the Chips Act through the estab- Times Europe. “Because the polySiC handle OEMs. Sabonnadière believes that Soitec
lishment of key industries inside the EU, said wafer that we bond the silicon carbide to is could “reasonably” take 30% of the SiC sub-
Merli. “We believe ownership of the full SiC very low-resistivity, you have more current. strate market in the years to come.
supply chain is key to mastering the technol- You have good voltage handling and higher In mid-2022, Paul Boudre, then-CEO of
ogy, and with our investments, [we will] ensure current ratings, which is the holy grail for a Soitec, said, “There is no smartphone without
ST builds a flexible and sustainable supply power component.” Soitec technology. There is no 4G or 5G
chain.” With widespread EV adoption, the volume without Soitec technology. We’re going to
of high-quality SiC substrates is expected do exactly the same thing in the automotive
TRANSITIONING FROM 150 MM TO to increase. Soitec claims its SmartSiC industry. In 2030, there will be no electric car
200 MM technology enables the production of 10× without Soitec technology.”
The new SiC substrate manufacturing facility more high-quality SiC substrates from one Will ST be part of that equation?
in Catania will produce in volume 150-mm single-crystal SiC substrate. Absolutely, Merli answered. “In fact, our
SiC epitaxial substrates, integrating all steps The prime-quality SiC donor wafer can be ambition is to be an outsized portion of that
in the production flow, and 200-mm wafers in reused multiple times, Sabonnadière said. equation.”
the near future. “Since we reuse 10× the value of a monoSiC According to S&P Global Mobility, the
This follows the recent extension of the [donor] wafer, if it’s of very good quality, you average value of semiconductors per car
agreement between ST and Soitec to qualify will have 10 wafers of very good quality. This is forecast to rise from US$700 in 2020 to
Soitec’s SmartSiC technology for the produc- reusability effect will allow us to improve US$1,138 by 2028. Full electrification is
tion of 200-mm SiC substrates. manufacturing yields and put more devices on expected to add about US$1,000 in the value
The first step of their collaboration is a single wafer.” of semiconductors to each vehicle and might
implementing the qualification plan over the Transitioning from 150-mm to 200-mm require up to 5× as many chips.
next 18 months, which will include a technol- SiC wafers allows for a substantial increase in Merli said ST is well-positioned to meet
ogy license agreement. A SiC substrate supply capacity, with almost twice the usable area for this rapid acceleration in chip demand. “ST
agreement will be subject to the qualification IC fabrication, allowing for 1.8× to 1.9× more pioneered the first automotive-grade SiC
phase of the technology by ST and Soitec, working chips per wafer. MOSFETs in 2016, and today, we lead the
Merli said. “Accelerating the transition to 200 mm is the market with an estimated market share above
Soitec’s SmartSiC is an adaptation of main focus of our collaboration with ST,” said 50% and more than 5 million passenger cars
Soitec’s proprietary Smart Cut process to Sabonnadière. “We will continue to improve on the road using ST SiC devices.” ■

www.eetimes.eu | MARCH 2023