China specialty graphite Manufacturers, Suppliers, Factory

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.

Semiconductor technology has been the backbone of modern civilization, fundamentally transforming the way we live, work, and interact with the world. It has enabled unprecedented advancements in various fields including information technology, energy, telecommunications, and healthcare. From the microprocessors that power our smartphones and computers, to the sensors in medical devices, and the power electronics in renewable energy systems, semiconductors are at the core of nearly every technological innovation of the past century.

In the high voltage field, particularly for high-voltage devices above 20,000V, the SiC epitaxial technology still faces several challenges. One of the main difficulties is achieving high uniformity, thickness, and doping concentration in the epitaxial layer. For the fabrication of such high-voltage devices, a 200um thick silicon carbide epitaxial wafer with excellent uniformity and concentration is required.

Currently, silicon carbide dominates the third generation of semiconductors. In the cost structure of silicon carbide devices, substrates account for 47%, and epitaxy contributes 23%. Together, these two components represent about 70% of the overall manufacturing cost, making them crucial in the silicon carbide device production chain.

Alumina ceramic components have excellent properties such as high hardness, high mechanical strength, super wear resistance, high temperature resistance, high resistivity, and good electrical insulation performance.

Taiwan's Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) has announced plans to build a 300mm wafer fab in Japan in collaboration with SBI Holdings. The purpose of this collaboration is to strengthen Japan's domestic IC (integrated circuit) supply chain, with a particular focus on circuits for AI edge computing and packaging technologies.