News: Suppliers
8 March 2022
II-VI accelerates 150-200mm SiC substrate and epi manufacturing expansion
As part of its previously announced $1bn investment in silicon carbide (SiC) over the next 10 years, engineered materials and optoelectronic component maker II-VI Inc of Saxonburg, PA, USA is accelerating its investment in 150mm and 200mm SiC substrate and epitaxial wafer manufacturing with large-scale factory expansions in Easton, Pennsylvania, and Kista, Sweden.
To meet the accelerating global demand for SiC power electronics, II-VI will significantly build out its nearly 300,000ft2 factory in Easton, to scale up production of its 150mm and 200mm SiC substrates and epiwafers. Easton’s 150mm and 200mm SiC substrate output is expected to reach the equivalent of 1 million 150mm substrates annually by 2027, with the proportion of 200mm substrates growing over time. The expansion of epiwafer capacity in Kista is aimed at serving the European market.
“Our customers are accelerating their plans to intersect the anticipated tidal wave of demand for SiC power electronics in electric vehicles (EVs) that we expect will come right behind the current adoption cycle in industrial, renewable energy, data centers, and more,” says Sohail Khan, executive VP, New Ventures & Wide-Bandgap Electronics Technologies. “The Easton factory will increase II-VI’s production of SiC substrates by at least a factor of six over the next five years, and it will also become II-VI’s flagship manufacturing center for 200mm SiC epitaxial wafers, one of the largest in the world,” he adds.
II-VI will leverage its epiwafer technology developed in Kista. The firm says that this technology is differentiated by its ability to achieve thick layer structures in single or multiple regrowth steps, which is suited to power devices in applications above 1kV.
The Easton factory will be powered by an uninterruptible and scalable micro-grid based on fuel-cell technology to provide high assurance of supply.
Chinese epi firm Tianyu chooses II-VI as primary SiC substrate supplier
II-VI expands conductive SiC wafer finishing capacity in China
II-VI completes Ascatron and INNOViON acquisitions, and joins SIA
II-VI licenses GE’s SiC power electronics technology
