Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TRANSFORM (Trusted European SiC Value Chain for a greener Economy)
Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2023-04-30
Power Electronics is an important technology domain that has permeated into many aspects of modern life. It has become an essential technology for e-mobility, communication, renewable energy, medical, aerospace and industrial production. Not only hybrid/electrical cars, but also devices such as mobile phones and home appliances use power electronics systems for the conversion of electrical power from one form to another and control its energy level. Current challenges regarding climate change and energy security highlight the importance of efficiency since electrical power is lost as heat during this conversion and conditioning. Hence developments in this technology domain directly affect society and the quality of life. The International Energy Agency emphasizes that without early action on efficiency, the energy transition to net zero emissions will be more expensive and much more difficult to achieve (www.iea.org).
Power electronics systems use semiconductor materials which have a direct influence on the efficiency of the system. Traditionally, Silicon (Si) is used for this purpose, the semiconductor material in every conventional electronic device. Despite substantial progress with electronic components based on this material, further breakthroughs to provide a technological response for future demands is difficult to achieve.
At this point, new materials with better properties come into play, the so-called “wide bandgap” materials. Silicon Carbide (SiC) is one of them with properties that allow, among others, operation at higher temperatures and higher electrical potential leading to smaller components and higher power conversion efficiency. Depending on the application, 6-30% gain in efficiency is expected by using SiC instead of Si.
It is the aim of TRANSFORM to establish a strong and a complete value chain for SiC based power electronics in Europe. This will enable a powerful European position and sovereignty in this field through advanced and highly competitive SiC technology. It encompasses research and development activities along the complete supply chain, from SiC substrates to power electronics systems, to provide European market players with a reliable source of SiC components and systems based on an entirely European value chain. The consortium comprises of 34 partners from 7 EU states including industry, institutes and universities.
Power electronics systems use semiconductor materials which have a direct influence on the efficiency of the system. Traditionally, Silicon (Si) is used for this purpose, the semiconductor material in every conventional electronic device. Despite substantial progress with electronic components based on this material, further breakthroughs to provide a technological response for future demands is difficult to achieve.
At this point, new materials with better properties come into play, the so-called “wide bandgap” materials. Silicon Carbide (SiC) is one of them with properties that allow, among others, operation at higher temperatures and higher electrical potential leading to smaller components and higher power conversion efficiency. Depending on the application, 6-30% gain in efficiency is expected by using SiC instead of Si.
It is the aim of TRANSFORM to establish a strong and a complete value chain for SiC based power electronics in Europe. This will enable a powerful European position and sovereignty in this field through advanced and highly competitive SiC technology. It encompasses research and development activities along the complete supply chain, from SiC substrates to power electronics systems, to provide European market players with a reliable source of SiC components and systems based on an entirely European value chain. The consortium comprises of 34 partners from 7 EU states including industry, institutes and universities.
Transform completed the second year of its project duration. From the beginning of the project, progress has been made in all work packages from substrates to devices, packaging, equipment and complete systems in various application domains. Work on requirements engineering along the supply chain, based on targeted use cases are completed. Device manufacturers in the consortium, namely STMicroelectronics and Bosch have successfully processed devices on the new substrate technology, SmartSiC™ in their serial production lines and are ready for benchmarking them to devices on standard SiC wafers. This led to a vast experience build-up and valuable feedback for this new substrate technology. First samples of 200 mm SmartSiC™ wafers were shown. Processing equipment for 200 mm technology was developed and tested for chemical vapor deposition, annealing tool also for 200 mm was installed at a research institute. Achievements were made in the field of packaging technology as described in the next paragraph. Additionally, a gate driver proof of concept is shown with innovations to collectively support in decreasing the total cost of ownership for SiC based power modules. Several reliability test methods are improved to allow a more precise identification of SiC specific robustness challenges and were used to characterize planar MOSFETs. A lifetime model on component level for a digital twin approach is completed and validated for the baseline technology. Finite element models for innovation steps are completed and are ready for validation when the results become available in the coming months. Participation in international standardization committees was continued for exploitation of project results and industrialization of technologies developed in this project. Current gaps in international standards were identified and the results are prepared for feedback in the standardization committees via active participation as a dissemination activity. In parallel design of all technical demonstrators with SiC components in application areas of automotive, Smart-Power grid, agriculture machinery, as well as industrial machines were completed. Hardware for the baseline technology was built and partly tested to show the advantages of SiC technology. TRANSFORM was represented in various technical and scientific events with posters and peer reviewed publications.
Going beyond the state of the art, planar and trench MOSFET technologies were realized on the SmartSiCTM substrates showing their technical advantages and potential contribution to forming a resilient supply chain in Europe. On the packaging front, Cu based assembly and interconnection technologies (AIT) were further developed, demonstrators are manufactured, power module with this technology is demonstrated. A power module with high power density, system flexibility and reduced interface complexity was developed and characterized showing higher switching frequencies and thermal management beyond the state of the art. First results with innovative packaging concepts to optimize manufacturing costs are also shown. Advances in testing methodology of SiC based MOSFET devices were achieved through build-up of corresponding test set-ups and testing of devices.
TRANSFORM contributes to European societal goals and the green economy through significantly increasing energy efficiency by providing a competitive, ready-to-industrialize technology, strengthening Europe’s technological sovereignty in this critical field. TRANSFORM also contributes to educating and sparking interest in young talents through a joint summer school with two other KDT projects, namely YESvGaN and PowerELEC.
TRANSFORM contributes to European societal goals and the green economy through significantly increasing energy efficiency by providing a competitive, ready-to-industrialize technology, strengthening Europe’s technological sovereignty in this critical field. TRANSFORM also contributes to educating and sparking interest in young talents through a joint summer school with two other KDT projects, namely YESvGaN and PowerELEC.