News: Microelectronics
17 April 2023
Multi-year deal signed for ST to supply silicon carbide devices to ZF
STMicroelectronics of Geneva, Switzerland has signed a multi-year contract to supply a volume of double-digit millions of silicon carbide devices that will be integrated into the new modular inverter architecture of Germany-based ZF Friedrichshafen AG (one of the world’s largest suppliers to the automotive industry) that is going into series production in 2025. ZF aims to leverage ST’s vertically integrated silicon carbide manufacturing in Europe and Asia to secure customer orders in electro-mobility.
“With this strategically important step, we are strengthening our supply chain to be able to securely supply our customers,” says Stephan von Schuckmann, member of ZF’s board of management responsible for electro-mobility as well as materials management. “Our order book in electro-mobility until 2030 now amounts to more than €30bn. For this volume, we need several reliable suppliers for silicon carbide devices,” he adds. “In STMicroelectronics, we now have a supplier whose experience with complex systems meets our requirements and who, above all, can produce the devices in exceptionally high quality and at the required quantities.”
With this agreement, ZF has gained a supplier for silicon carbide technology in addition to ZF’s existing partnership agreement on silicon carbide technology announced in February with Wolfspeed.
“As a vertically integrated company, we are investing heavily to expand capacity and develop our silicon carbide supply chain to support our global and European customer base across automotive and industrial sectors, as they pursue electrification and decarbonization targets,” says Marco Monti, president of ST’s Automotive and Discrete Group. “The key to success in electric vehicle technology is greater scalability and modularity with increased efficiency, peak power and affordability,” he adds. “Our silicon carbide technologies help deliver these benefits and we are proud to work with ZF, a leading automotive supplier for electrification, to help them differentiate and optimize the performance of their inverters.”
ST will manufacture the SiC chips at its production fabs in Italy and Singapore with packaging of the chips into STPAK, an advanced package, and testing at its back-end facilities in Morocco and China.
ST will supply ZF from 2025 with double-digit millions of third-generation silicon carbide MOSFET devices. ZF can connect a variable number of such devices together to match customers’ performance requirements without changing the design of the inverter. Among other things, ZF will use the technology in inverters for vehicles of a European car manufacturer whose production start is planned for 2025.
ZF invests in Wolfspeed to support construction of largest SiC device fab
ST to build €730m silicon carbide wafer factory in Catania, Italy
