China Wafer Handling Equipment Manufacturers, Suppliers, Factory

The development of high-powered blue and UV LEDs has enabled the creation of full-color LED TV displays, as well as white LED automotive and domestic lighting. These LEDs are based on Gallium Nitride, which is deposited on substrate wafers supported by CVD SiC-coated graphite susceptor using the MOCVD process.

As the world looks for new opportunities in semiconductors, gallium nitride continues to stand out as a potential candidate for future power and RF applications. However, for all the benefits it offers, it still faces a major challenge; there are no P-type (P-type) products. Why is GaN touted as the next major semiconductor material, why is the lack of P-type GaN devices a major drawback, and what does this mean for future designs?

Silicon carbide has a large number of applications in emerging industries and traditional industries. At present, the global semiconductor market has exceeded 100 billion yuan. It is expected that by 2025, the global sales of semiconductor manufacturing materials will reach 39.5 billion US dollars, of which the silicon carbide semiconductor market is expected to reach a market size of 2.5 billion US dollars in 2025. At the same time, silicon carbide is still the material with the best application performance in traditional ceramics, refractory, high temperature, grinding and other fields.

SiC MOSFETs are transistors that offer high power density, improved efficiency, and low failure rates at high temperatures. These advantages of SiC MOSFETs bring numerous benefits to electric vehicles (EVs), including longer driving range, faster charging, and potentially lower cost battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Over the past five years, SiC MOSFETs have been widely used in the power electronics of EVs in vehicles from OEMs such as Tesla and Hyundai. In fact, SiC inverters accounted for 28% of the BEV market in 2023.

Within the silicon carbide (SiC) industry chain, substrate suppliers hold significant leverage, primarily due to value distribution. SiC substrates account for 47% of the total value, followed by epitaxial layers at 23%, while device design and manufacturing constitute the remaining 30%. This inverted value chain stems from the high technological barriers inherent to substrate and epitaxial layer production. Three major challenges plague SiC substrate growth: stringent growth conditions, slow growth rates, and demanding crystallographic requirements. These complexities contribute to increased processing difficulty, ultimately resulting in low product yields and high costs. Furthermore, the epitaxial layer’s thickness and doping concentration are critical parameters directly impacting the final device performance.

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the various manufacturing techniques employed to produce dense SiC ceramics, highlighting their unique characteristics and applications.