News: Suppliers
10 December 2020
DENSO adopts SDK’s 150mm SiC epiwafers
Tokyo-based Showa Denko K.K. (SDK, which produces petrochemicals, gas products, specialty chemicals, electronics, inorganics, aluminium, etc) says that its 6-inch (150mm)-diameter silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxial wafers have been adopted by automotive supplier DENSO Corp of Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan for their latest booster power modules for fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).
Launched in 2009, SDK’s SiC epiwafers have been adopted by electronic device manufacturers for various devices including power supplies for servers of cloud computing systems, quick-charging stands for EVs, and railcars. SDK says that DENSO has adopted its SiC epiwafers for their next-generation power modules after recognizing the track record of adoption by device manufacturers, high-grade epi specifications, low density of surface defects, and low frequency of basal plane dislocations.
Compared with existing mainstream silicon-based semiconductors, SiC-based power semiconductors can operate under high-temperature, high-voltage and high-current conditions, while substantially reducing energy loss, notes SDK, enabling device makers to produce smaller, lighter, more energy-efficient power control modules. SiC power semiconductors are already used in on-board battery chargers (OBCs) and quick-charging stands for EVs, and railcars. Demand is expected to grow with full-scale use in power control units (PCUs) for EVs from 2025, when the SiC epiwafer market is hence expected to be about 100bn yen.
SDK splitting off optical semiconductor business
SDK plans third expansion of high-grade SiC epi production in two years
