ISSUE N°8JANuAry 2013

Connect ing the Power E lectron ic Supply

INdustry revIew IGBT producers adapt to vibrant

market

COMPANy INsIGHtPower Integrations:

Reliability andquality drive IGBT

modules

ANALyst COrNerIGBT developments

face off againstweak economy

F r e e s u b s c r i p t i o n o n www.i-micronews.com

dev’POWERPr

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Bringing together leading Compound Semiconductor industry insiders

Gain a comprehensive overview of the entire compound semiconductor industry-the must attend event for 2013 is the 3rd CS International conference in Germany, at the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport on 4th-5th March 2013.

Delegates will have the unique opportunity to network with leading industry professionals of the III-V chip making industry, interact with suppliers and industry experts who will deliver the latest research, business models, and insights.

Chaired by Keynote speakerDr Andrew Nelson, IQE President and Chief Executive Officer Conference Chair

Dr Wilman Tsai, Intel CorporationProgram Manager of Technology Manufacturing III-V CMOS for High Performance and Low Power Logic Devices

Please visit www.cs-international.net for further information or register at: www.cs-international.net/registration

Speakers Asif Anwar - Strategy Analytics Dr Markus Behet - Dow Corning Corporation Bryan Bothwell - TriQuint Semiconductor Michelle Bourke - Oxford Instruments Ms Ann Hughes - SAFCDaniel Cline - Lux Research IncMarianne Germain - EpiGaN Malcolm Harrower - Indium Dr Schang-jing Hon - Epistar CorporationAllan Jaunzens - EvatecDr Rainer Krause - Soitec Dr Michael Lebby - Translucent Inc Noriyuki Matsubara - Panasonic Europe AJ Nadler - RF Micro Devices (RFMD)

Pars Mukish - Yole DéveloppementDr Philippe Roussel - Yole Développement Dr Vijit Sabnis - Solar Junction Dr Frank Schulte - Aixtron Dr Ertugrul Sönmez - MicroGaN Dr Elisabeth Steimetz - LayTec AG Gunnar Stolze - Oclaro IncDr Thomas Uhrmann - EV Group Gregg Wallace - Temescal Professor Tao Wang - Seren Photonics Dr Tudor Williams - Mesuro LtdDr YiFeng Wu - TransphormErwin Ysewijn - Azzurro

All speakers and presentations are subject to change

Platinum Sponsors

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e d I t O r I A L

P O W E R d e v ’ 3

J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

...After a tough and uncertain 2012, it’s

very encouraging to see that the industry

is growing again...

Happy and successful 2013!Yole Développement would like to begin this year’s first Power Dev’ edition by offering its

best wishes to all its readers for a successful 2013 in the Power Electronics industry!

In this issue, we’re proud to present and discuss the bright future of Power Electronics

by focusing on the industry’s key device: IGBTs.

We had the opportunity to interview a group of important Power Semiconductor

industry players, who – even though new materials such as siC and GaN have begun

appearing on the market – are still pushing for silicon developments. These players

include Alpha Omega Semiconductor, Mitsubishi Electric, ON Semiconductor, ABB,

Dynex Semiconductor, BYD (the Chinese leader) and Power Integrations, and all of

them are deeply involved in IGBT technology improvements; in fact, some are also

working also on alternative high-performance materials and devices.

After a tough and uncertain 2012, it’s very encouraging to see that last year’s demons

have been chased away and the industry is growing again. Indeed, Yole Développement’s

most recent analysis had shown a downturn for dedicated applications, especially the

cost driven ones. On top of that, some governments had reduced or ceased their

incentives, and strong competition was coming from developing countries like China

and Russia – and all of this in the midst of a global economic crisis.

Thankfully, the majority of players managed to survive through different strategies

(M&A, vertical integration, diversification, or simply focusing on creating an essential

and profitable business), and are now looking to:

• Focus on attractive applications, like transportation and renewable energies

• Integrate themselves along the supply chain: device makers are becoming

module manufacturers and system integrators are becoming interested in power

semiconductors

• Target dynamic locations such as Asia, Eastern Europe and South America

This comes as a relief to the Power Semiconductor business, especially silicon – and

especially IGBTs, which were pushed into the background a bit by Super Junction and

SiC MOSFETs, and GaN HFETs. But IGBT is alive and kicking, and between discrete and

modules IGBTs are close to a $3 billion market. Furthermore, industry leaders are very

interested in developing new IGBT generations with higher performance, including:

• Smaller footprint and thinner dies

• Faster switching frequency

• Advanced packaging and cooling solutions

• Smart drivers, and combination with other devices

And this is just the beginning: materials are improving, the value chain is becoming

increasingly consolidated, standards are starting to appear and the overall industry

is confident.

Yole Développement is confident too!

2013 looks global. 2013 looks challenging. 2013 looks bright.

Here’s to a happy and successful 2013!

Brice Le Gouic

Activity Leader, Power electronics

yole développement

legouic@yole.fr

• APEC - The Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition

March 17 to 21, 2013 – Long Beach, CA – USA

• SSF 2013April 10 to 12, 2013 – Paris, France

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j a n u a r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

INDUSTRY REVIEW 6IGBT producers adapt to vibrant market

YOLE ASKS 10Power Integrations: reliability and quality drive IGBT modules

COMPANY INSIGHT 12Mitsubishi Electric: Low loss IGBT modules are system makers’ gainInternational Rectifier: Thin wafers propel motor drive IGBTs along efficiency path

ANALYST CORNER 16IGBT developments face off against weak economy

2013 EVENT REVIEW 20

C O n T E n T S

FROM I-MICRONEWS.COM

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W i t h 2 0 , 0 0 0 m o n t h l y v i s i t o r s , i-Micronews.com provides for Power Electronics area: current news, market & technological analysis, key leader interviews, webcasts section, reverse engineering / costing, events calendar, latest reports…

Please visit our website to discover the last top stories in Power Electronics and Compound Semiconductors:

• HexaTech awarded ARPA-E contract for AlN substrates for high voltage power electronics

• Semikron acquire all shares in electric and hybrid car drives developer Compact Dynamics

• Microsemi expands silicon carbide (SiC) power module product family

4 P O W E R D e v ’

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More information at +49 711 61946-0pcim@mesago.com or pcim-europe.com

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I N d u s t r y r e v I e w

IGBT producers adapt to vibrant market ABB, Alpha and Omega Semiconductor, BYD, Dynex Semiconductor and ON Semiconductor reveal a fertile sector to Andy Extance and Power Dev’.

J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

P O W E R d e v ’6

High voltage standards:ABB’s soft punch through

planar and enhanced planar (SPT and SPT+) IGBTs target

the 1,200-6,500V range.(Courtesy of ABB)

Looking across the IGBT manufacturing landscape, perhaps the most notable thing about the companies inhabiting it is that

they are very different beasts. True, they share a common trait, elegantly combining characteristics of both MOSFETs and bipolar transistors in IGBTs that surpass both these device types across many switching applications. But different products inhabit very specific market areas, ranging from cookers and microwaves to giant municipal power transmission systems. The specific pressures and needs of their ecological niche drive these companies to continue evolving device properties and performance. And that diversity of IGBT applications is today luring new companies, and bringing others together to boost their fortunes.

For example, Phoenix, Arizona, based ON Semiconductor had focused on IGBTs for automotive ignition, after ceasing to make motor control IGBTs in the late 1990s. But, the potential across the high performance segment of the market triggered it to release several 600V and 1,200V NGTBxx trench field stop IGBTs during 2012. Asif Jakwani, director of ON Semiconductor’s power discrete business unit, noted that different end uses require specific

balances between three properties: collector-emitter saturation voltage, vCE(sat); turnoff energy, eoff; and the ability to withstand short circuits.

“uPs and solar applications tend to operate at high switching frequency, 40-60 kHz, so our IGBTs are optimised for lower Eoff, while short circuit is also critical,” Jakwani told Power Dev’. “Induction heating, in electric hobs and home appliances, operates with 30 kHz medium frequency resonant topology, where eoff and vCE(sat) are equally important. For motor control inverters we optimise vCE(sat) and short circuit, because switching frequency tends to be from 8-12 kHz.” ON Semiconductor tailors these properties in its trench-based field stop IGBTs using float zone (FZ) silicon substrates with state of the art backside processing and thin wafer technologies. Fine tuning backside processing dose, annealing temperatures and other processing parameters can deliver optimized vCE(sat), eoff and short circuit capabilities for the target applications, Jakwani noted.

Similarly, Sunnyvale, California’s Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOS) entered the IGBT market with 600V devices in 2012. That was enabled by

“Customers want to use IGBTs at higher

frequencies for lower system costs. They

also want more robust devices with longer short-circuit

capability for higher reliability,” says yalcin Bulut, Alpha and Omega

Semiconductor.

I S S U E N ° 8 J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3

7P O W E R d e v ’

the Portland, Oregon, fab AOS bought from San Jose, California’s Integrated Device Technology in January 2012. Yalcin Bulut, AOS’ vice president of discrete product lines, noted the company’s AlphaIGBT platform was developed at the Oregon fab. “Given the highly unique nature of discrete power technology, the acquisition of the Oregon fab from IDT was critical for AOS to accelerate proprietary technology development and speed up new product introduction,” he said.

AlphaIGBT continues field-stop IGBTs’ replacement of punch-through (PT) and non-punch-through (NPT) designs in many applications, thanks to their superior switching and conduction performance, Bulut explained.And thanks to its expertise in discrete technology, AOs was able to develop a novel field-stop design. “The AlphaIGBT technology combines a unique cell and vertical structure, which offers an excellent VCE(sat) versus eoff

trade-off, without compromising on short-circuit capability,” he said.

High power promise

Soft punch through planar and enhanced planar (SPT and SPT+) IGBTs from Zurich, Switzerland headquartered power technology group ABB meet the particular challenges of their 1,200-6,500V range. “The SPT IGBT and diode range are known for their benchmark high Safe-Operating-Area SOA, excellent controllability/softness and low overall losses,” said Munaf Rahimo, ABB’s chief engineer, semiconductor technology. “The SPT+ range benefits from all the advantages of the SPT range while further reducing the overall losses by 25-33%, depending on the voltage class. The SPT+ range also offer higher maximum operating junction temperature for the voltage classes rated below 3.3kV.”

In the SPT and SPT+ designs, an n-doped buffer layer adjacent to the collector electrode acts as a field stopper for higher voltages. However, ABB is circumspect in choosing whether to use FZ or more conventional silicon substrates made through the Czochralski process in such products, explained Rahimo. “We utilize different starting materials in our product range based on availability and matching our specifications for providing high performance power semiconductors,” he said. ABB has also integrated a diode function on its IGBT chips to create compact and higher power products it calls a Bimode Insulated Gate Transistor (BIGT). “Our products’ high operating temperature capabilities and the BIGT concept have been two important steps in the evolution of the IGBT,” Rahimo underlined.

dynex semiconductor in Lincoln, uK, produces its own die for 1,200-6,500V IGBT modules, and Paul Taylor, president and chief executive officer feels FZ dominates in this range. Field stop devices are also essentially standard architectures, he added, with system producers wanting multiple suppliers to provide interchangeable components.

Currently a comparatively small IGBT producer, that’s the role Dynex is targeting. “They’re looking for similar performance, so we focus on industrial standards,” Taylor said. “we can compete on a technological level, but raising production volume is our biggest challenge.”

Yet Dynex stands out among IGBT producers thanks to its Chinese majority shareholder and main customer, Csr times electric, which bought a 75 percent stake in Dynex in 2008. Csr produces electric drive converter and control systems for trains, and its partnership with Dynex emerges from a maturing power electronics industry in its native country. “The Chinese market is quite open to us,” Taylor explained. “That gives us a strong pull, particularly in rail transportation, which is developing rapidly in China at the moment. But the electric grid and renewable energy sectors are also pulling strongly.”

Shenzhen-based carmaker BYD is another Chinese manufacturer that has gained wafer-level power semiconductor technology, according to the company’s Yong Yang. “BYD Microelectronics has established an R&D institute to support analysis and research on IGBT chips and modules, to ensure reliability and performance,” Yang said. “Since 2007, we have developed five package series, including IC ranging from 25-600A, and VCe from 600-1700V. Our own IGBT chips are currently used in BYD auto-class power modules, but we’re not supplying them outside the company.”

recent advances that the institute has made include improving thermal management and reliability in packaging by integrating AlSiC base plate technology into IGBT power modules, Yang said. But the automobile class IGBT modules it has developed have been successfully used in hybrid and electric vehicles. The institute has also produced industry-class modules for electric

+4500V 3300V 1700V 1200V -600V

Mark

et

pre

sen

ce

Long

Short

Voltage

?

?

Pioneer of the HV IGBT

Pioneer of the IGBT for consumer

Promising markets EV/HEV & Renewables

1200V & 1700V

New entrants in low voltage

New entrants in HV The solution to stay ahead is to innovate in the service, by proposing more than the IGBT: Drivers, Cooling, or full stacks

Striking a balance: In ON Semiconductor’s AlphaIGBT devices, processing parameters determine how performance balances between ruggedness, VCE(sat); and Eoff. (Courtesy of ON Semiconductor)

Process parameters • Doping levels • Geometry • Anneal • NSD fractions

VCE(ON)

Switching Ruggedness trise, tfall (nsec) Eon, Eoff (mJ/amp) Fast, but soft (intangible)

DC losses (volts)

optimize

Short Circuit Aval. Energy

ON Semiconductor 4th Generation Trench

Field Stop

p implant

n+

Top Metal

Thin n- FZ sub

PHV

Back Metal

n Field Stop

Process parameters • Doping levels • Geometry • Anneal • NSD fractions

VCE(ON)

Switching Ruggedness trise, tfall (nsec) Eon, Eoff (mJ/amp) Fast, but soft (intangible)

DC losses (volts)

optimize

Short Circuit Aval. Energy

ON Semiconductor 4th Generation Trench

Field Stop

p implant

n+

Top Metal

Thin n- FZ sub

PHV

Back Metal

n Field Stop

IGBT Players landscape analysis (Source: Yole Développement – December 2012 - Data to be released Q2 2013 in the IGBT report)

J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

P O W E R d e v ’8

welding machines, inverters, uPs, and solar/wind energy power plants. But there remains room for improvement in these products, and yang believes BYD Microelectronics has the capabilities to deliver them.

“we have an independent technical team to support failure analysis, the analysis and qualification of module components and materials, and improvement of module designs and assembly processes,” Yang said. “From IC design, module packages, we provide our customers full service, high performance and cost-effective products. We believe that we can do it better in the near future with other different industry customers’ requirements and support.” And the greatest needs they are working to meet for such customers are increased module integration, as well as higher voltages, current, and frequency capabilities, he added.

dynex and Csr are also hoping to eventually supply IGBT modules for electric vehicles, but for their current applications further lowering costs is the main priority. “We have to get our production up to a level where we can further exploit economies of scale,” Taylor said. “Getting to that volume and production level is our biggest challenge.” To help achieve that, the company opened a £1.8 million ($2.9 million) R&D centre in August 2012, part of a slated £11.25 million overall investment in new product design and R&D.

“We have completed an expansion of our 6-inch IGBT wafer fabrication and assembly and test line in Lincoln,” Taylor said. “That allows us to take one step forward, but we continue to invest in R&D and production. Today we have a larger assembly and test line in China, but at the moment there’s a new 8-inch facility going up there. That will obviously be much, much larger capacity than we have in Lincoln and will come on-stream probably in 2014. It will provide the high volume, low cost capability which will allow us to participate in renewable power, electrical vehicles, and industrial power conversion.”

Raising reliability reputation

AOS’ 8-inch Oregon fab already allows it to target motor control and power conversion applications, meaning that it is well placed to serve key trends in the sector, according to Bulut. “Inverter-based systems in industrial motor drives and white goods are replacing the existing topologies for higher energy savings,” he said. The AlphaIGBT properties enabling such a shift include low collector:emitter gate charge ratio (Qgc/Qge), which induce lower gate voltages under rapid voltage changes (high dV/dt). Together with their 5.6V gate threshold voltage, this advantage can be used to extend the use of unipolar gate drives saving the expense and complexity of bipolar gate drives, Bulut said. “The design’s low transconductance (GM) and low gate to collector capacitance (CGC), allows ease of parallel operation with no oscillatory behaviour,” he added. From its 600v entry point, AOs plans to extend its voltage range and offer different package types for other applications and markets. “We are also working closely with our customers to customize solutions to fit their designs,” Bulut said. “AOS is seeing that customers want to use IGBTs at higher frequencies for lower system costs. They also want more robust devices with longer short-circuit capability for higher reliability.”

ON Semiconductor’s IGBT resurgence also looks set to benefit its Tokyo, Japan, based subsidiary Sanyo Semiconductor, which it acquired in January 2011. “Sanyo Semiconductors has a group footprint in the intelligent power module (IPM) market,” Jakwani said. “They are very strong in the Asia-Pacific market in home appliances like washing machines and room air conditioners. We are working very closely with our colleagues to make sure that we can strengthen their supply chain for IGBTs and rectifiers.”

Meanwhile, ON semiconductor will announce ten more 600V field stop IGBTs for motor control, induction heating, uPs, and solar inverters early in 2013. There Jakwani also sees reliability as an important concern, one that his company is adapting

In-house innovation: BYD has recently integrated AlSiC base plate technology into its IGBT power

modules, shown here. (Courtesy of BYD)

“Every platform development moves

VCE(sat) and Eoff curves lower for the same

die size, to get better performance or price, based on the system

requirements,”says Asif Jakwani,

ON Semiconductor.

Switching up: Though Dynex Semiconductor’s current Lincoln fab produces IGBTs on 6-inch wafers, it is

constructing an 8-inch fab in China.(Courtesy of Dynex Semiconductor)

I S S U E N ° 8 J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3

to meet. “Customers expect higher breakdown voltage, so we plan to do 650v in next generation devices,” he said. “Besides that, every platform development moves vCE(sat) and eoff curves lower for the same die size, to get better performance or price, based on the system requirements.”

ABB’s Rahimo agrees that system efficiency and reliability requirements are becoming more important, which is driving development at both chip and package levels, especially in renewable energy related applications. But overall the needs that IGBTs must meet depend greatly on the specific application, he underlined. “Device optimization to match the different application requirements is an important trend,” he said. “Lower frequency applications such as those in multi-level topologies are targeting lower conduction losses,” he said. “emerging dC/dC conversion applications are targeting faster switching.”

Beyond already serving this wide range of uses, IGBTs are also creating new ones. In that circumstance Rahimo indicated that far from being a threat to well-established players like ABB, companies entering and maneuvering in the sector indicate its health. “IGBT products are enabling current and future applications in emerging markets especially in the automotive and renewable energy sectors,” he said. “We welcome new players providing a fair competitive landscape in our field of specialty.”

Andy Extance for Yole Développement

9P O W E R d e v ’

Yalcin Bulut, Vice President of discrete product lines, Alpha and Omega SemiconductorYalcin Bulut joined AOS in January 2011 and currently serves as Vice President of Discrete Product Lines for low-, medium-, and high-voltage MOSFETs and IGBTs. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering (Solid State Physics) from Middle East Technical University in Turkey and a master’s in Business Administration from Iowa State University. Prior to joining AOS, Mr. Bulut held

various marketing and executive positions at Vishay Siliconix where he was responsible for low-voltage, high-voltage and automotive product lines.

Asif Jakwani, Director of Power Discrete Business Unit, ON Semiconductor Asif Jakwani is responsible for ON Semiconductor’s portfolio of rectifiers, thyristors and discrete IGBTs offering a broad range of power devices for computing, consumer, automotive and high power conversion applications. He has over 18 years of experience in power conversion markets and applications. Jakwani joined ON semiconductor in 2007 as strategic Marketing director and held various

positions in Standard Product Group. He led company’s effort in launching an industry leading discrete IGBT portfolio with state-of-the-art technology and marketing leading performance. Prior to joining ON Semiconductor, Jakwani worked as Strategic Marketing Manager with Tyco Electronics Power Systems (formerly Lucent Power Systems) and help defined their industry standard isolated and non-isolated converters and POL modules. Jakwani earned an M.S. an Electrical Engineering and MBA from University of Texas.

Munaf Rahimo, Chief Engineer, Semiconductor Technology, ABB Munaf Rahimo completed his PhD at Staffordshire University, UK in 1996 in power devices with 20 years’ experience in the field of power electronics devices and applications. He joined ABB Semiconductors R&D in Switzerland in the year 2000 and is currently a Corporate Executive Engineer at ABB Power Systems Division with future power device technologies and applications as his main focus.

Paul Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, Dynex Semiconductor With a first degree in electronics and physics, and a PhD in semiconductors, Paul Taylor is a chartered engineer and physicist, fellow of the IET, and an honorary Professor of power device technology at the University of Nottingham, UK. Taylor started his industrial career with AEI Semiconductors, later to become part of the Marconi group, working in the power semiconductor business and having detailed technical involvement in power device design and applications. After various

senior positions in the organisation, Taylor took up his current position in 2005. As CEO, Taylor provides leadership to position Dynex at the forefront of its industry segment, and to ensure that Dynex responds to the competitive changing environment in which it operates.

Yang Yong, Project Manager, IGBT Modules, BYDYang Yong is in charge of BYD’s IGBT module project promotion. He has been a product manager focused on the power devices industry for more than 6 years.

Hot turn-off properties: AOS’ AlphaIGBT technology provides excellent turn-off characteristics across its entire temperature range. (Courtesy of Alpha and Omega Semiconductor)

J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

P O W E R d e v ’10

y O L e A s K s

Reliability and quality drive IGBT modules

In recent years, San Jose, California, based Power Integrations strengthened its grasp on the market for high-voltage integrated circuits

for energy-efficient power conversion through a series of investments. In 2010 it invested in starkville, Mississippi siC device developer Semisouth Laboratories after previously acquiring Santa Clara, California, high-performance diode manufacturer Qspeed. In 2012, it also acquired Biel, Switzerland IGBT driver vendor CONCEPT. Doug Bailey, the company’s vice president, marketing, told Yole Développement what the overall family brings to the IGBT module and system market.

Yole Développement: what advantages do CONCEPT IGBT drivers bring module and system producers?

Doug Bailey: People buy CONCEPT for reliability. they’re also designed in a way that makes them easy to use. If they’re using CONCEPT, customers don’t get into trouble. When you’re making millions of dollars’ worth of systems with lots of IGBTs, problems that lead to disastrous failures are unacceptable. CONCEPT drivers work for a long period of time. There’s plenty of margin in the design so that there’s less chance of a field failure.

YD: What provides that reliability?

DB: the architecture is magnetically isolated, the transformers are potted and that improves their lifetime. And they have a very accurate turn-on, turn-off device with a very tight tolerance and low drift over temperature and time. Normally when you’re trying to drive multiple IGBTs in a series configured stack, it’s difficult because they don’t share voltage well during the transitions. If you’ve got 10 kV or 100 kV across a stack of IGBTs, if some of the IGBTs don’t turn on as quickly as the others, the remaining voltage is across those few still-off devices, which may cause them to break down and blow up. So you need that level of accuracy in order to control these problems.

YD: How does CONCEPT fit into the Power Integrations family?

DB: CONCEPT goes from 10 kW to the very highest powers, whereas our existing products go from zero to 500W. The technologies likely to fill the gap

between our two companies are probably going to be a combination of our technical knowledge. By combining the extremes we’ll be able to fill in the middle.

YD: How else does Power Integrations serve the IGBT market?

DB: One application is bias supplies sold into most of the same applications that CONCEPT sell into, to run the microcontroller for a big system. They’re likely to use a PI device for the same reasons that they choose CONCEPT: reliability and quality of design. People want something they know is going to last the lifetime of their equipment, 20 or 30 years.

Another application is antiparallel diodes. Qspeed makes diodes in a very different way to everybody else. They’re not Schottkys and not PN junctions, they’re a combination. They have a Schottky junction, but an implant and irradiation step also allows them to inject carriers deep into an intrinsic layer between the P and the N. This merged PiN/schottky technology is as good as siC diodes, but doesn’t have the cost. As antiparallel diodes for IGBTs they are fantastic, they have a very low reverse recovery like a Schottky, they’re very soft and behave well during turn-off, you don’t get a lot of ringing in the EMI. To know them is to love them - we sample people, and they go to production. It’s hard to get excited about a diode, but people love them.

drivers and bias supplies supplied by Power Integrations and its subsidiaries promise long lifetimes, says Doug Bailey, the company’s vice president, marketing, while its Qspeed diode business expands, thanks to products that deliver SiC-like performance, despite the folding of its actual SiC investment.

Perfect fit: CONCEPT ‘plug and play’ drivers, like this SCALE driver 1SD312F2 screwed onto a 900A/4500V

IGBT module, save costly engineering time. (Courtesy of Power Integrations)

Doug Bailey, Vice President, Marketing, Power Integrations

“System makers want to maximize

their people’s use at a strategic level and

minimize their use in a tactical regard,

because it’s more cost effective,”

explains Doug Balley.

I S S U E N ° 6 j u l y 2 0 1 2

YD: Power Integrations was also the major investor in SiC device manufacturer Semisouth, which recently closed. What happened?

DB: There were issues surrounding SemiSouth’s ability to deliver the product the way we’d expected, and key people left, so it became hard to justify any increased investment. Facing this situation, SemiSouth failed to attract any other investors, so sadly, they had to close.

YD: Is Qspeed products’ close performance to SiC diodes a consolation?

DB: One place they don’t have equivalence is at high temperatures, where SiC is very good, but otherwise the overlap is large. Where you really need high temperature operation is quite rarefied – down-hole applications, military, space. Those are on the tail end of the served available market distribution, and Qspeed diodes are an entirely satisfactory low temperature alternative.

YD: What trends is Power Integrations seeing among the products you supply to customers who are using IGBTs?

DB: One is an increasing use of CONCEPT’s ‘plug and play’ drivers because they reduce the cost of engineering effort. System makers want to maximize their people’s use at a strategic level and minimize their use in a tactical regard, because it’s more cost effective. CONCEPT’s response to that was plug and play drivers that fit right on top of the most popular IGBT modules. That has been extremely successful, and I think that that’s an indication of a change in the availability and cost of engineering time.

www.powerint.com

Doug Bailey, Vice President, Marketing, Power IntegrationsDoug Bailey joined Power Integrations in November 2004 as vice president of marketing. Prior to joining PI, Bailey served as vice president of marketing at ChipX, a structured ASIC company. His earlier experience includes Business Management and Marketing Consultant for Sapiential Prime, Inc., Director of Sales and Business unit Manager for 8x8, Inc., application engineering management for IIT, Inc. and design engineering roles with lSI logic, Inmos, ltd. and Marconi.

Charging ahead: Qspeed diodes use a silicon-based process to combine an extremely low reverse recovery charge (QRR) with a very soft

recovery waveform. (Courtesy of Power Integrations)

J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

P O W E R d e v ’12

C O M P A N y I N s I G H t

Low loss IGBT modules are system makers’ gain

If you hear a call for improved efficiency today, it’s likely to be in a business or social context, rather than referring to its physical meaning.

But reducing energy wastage is a powerful driver of progress. It can squeeze more from our resources, and help limit carbon dioxide emissions attributed as causing global warming.

System makers desiring such benefits are therefore calling for better efficiency power electronic devices and modules from Tokyo, Japan, headquartered Mitsubishi Electric. “Customers seek power modules with higher efficiency, larger current and higher voltage resistance,” tatsuo Oomori, deputy general manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s Power Device Works, told Power Dev’. “In addition, with low carbon initiatives garnering attention worldwide, we expect more demand for EVs, HEVs and the renewable energy field. For photovoltaic and uPs applications, the trend is moving towards higher efficiency, lower loss and higher frequency. The general trend, including general-purpose inverters, is for higher operating

temperatures. Mitsubishi Electric is currently working to develop modules that fulfill these demands. We are also developing technology to improve product reliability.”

to meet these needs, Oomori and his colleagues have already been delivering improvements over the course of several IGBT product generations. “Mitsubishi Electric’s IGBT modules achieve low loss, which contributes to the improvement of efficiency in applications,” he explained. “They also help make system products smaller and lighter weight. For example, we launched our Mega Power Dual (MPD) series in May 2012 for megawatt-class current and voltage for wind power generation and solar farm applications. It incorporates the sixth generation IGBT, which contributes to the achievement of power conversion equipment that are smaller in size and higher in efficiency.”

The MPD modules are specifically intended to bring the benefits of these carrier-stored trench-gate bipolar transistor (CSTBT) IGBTs to renewable energy and UPS applications. These devices add an n-type layer with relatively high impurity density between the p-type base layer and the n-layer in an IGBT. That provides the device with a lower on-voltage than for a conventional IGBT. In sixth generation MPD modules, the latest CSTBTs reduce collector-emitter saturation voltage (VCE(sat)) by approximately 15 per cent compared to the fifth-generation IGBT modules. They also reduce gate capacitance by 30-50 per cent, and raise maximum junction temperature by 25°C to 175°C.

As well as such a high-profile generational advance, Mitsubishi Electric’s ongoing IGBT development also contributed to several other product lines in 2012. That included high voltage applications, and low and mid-voltage ones exploiting Mitsubishi electric’s trademarked dIP-IPMs intelligent power modules. “Mitsubishi Electric has made innovations to develop IGBT chips and packages for high voltage direct current (HVDC) and HV-IGBTs with large current and high blocking voltage characteristics for traction applications,” Oomori said. “In addition, we launched transfer-mold type IPMs and IGBT modules for electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Chip and package innovations also enabled the development of DIP-IPMs that achieve higher efficiency and lower energy consumption

Tatsuo Oomori, deputy general manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s power device works explains the company’s continuing strategy of delivering higher performance, especially higher efficiency, and smaller size devices.

Tatsuo Oomori, Deputy General Manager, Power Device Works, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

New generation: Mitsubishi Electric’s trademarked carrier-stored trench-gate bipolar transistor (CSTBT) IGBT design add a relatively high impurity density n-type layer between the p-type

base layer and the n-layer of a trench IGBT, providing the device with a lower on-voltage. (Courtesy of Mitsubishi Electric)

in room air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators.” In particular, DIPIPMs integrate custom HvICs that provide level shifting and gate drive for the module’s IGBTs. The final integrated package lowers costs and manufacturing time, and raises reliability, as it requires fewer components and also reduces the space that must be left between them.

But a product range comprising silicon-based devices like IGBTs alone might not be able to deliver the best possible performance

in every case, Oomori added. “Regarding efforts to improve efficiency this past year, Mitsubishi electric developed and began sample shipment of hybrid SiC modules that use siC, the next-generation material for power chips, for diodes,” he said. Such modules exploit the fact that SiC’s critical electric field for breakdown is around 10 times higher than silicon. That means a SiC device can be one-tenth the thickness of silicon but carry the same voltage, and therefore have a much lower on-resistance, meaning less energy is lost as heat. “The company also recently began sample shipments of full SiC modules that use SiC for switching chips as well,” Oomori said.

And ongoing demands mean that Mitsubishi electric must also continue to develop its silicon technology, though it isn’t yet ready to scale up production from its existing 8-inch diameter wafer processes. “We plan to achieve higher efficiency through improvements in IGBT chips, reduction of package size, higher temperature operation, and development of IGBT characteristics that best suit each application,” Oomori said. “To respond to system producers’ requests

for reduction in size and weight as well as improvement in efficiency, we are currently trying to develop the seventh generation IGBT which will achieve lower loss and higher current density. It is expected to improve power loss by 15 per cent or more, which will contribute to achieving higher efficiency. The smaller chips and package sizes of the new generation IGBT will contribute to reduced size and weight of system products.”

www.mitsubishielectric.com

I S S U E N ° 8 J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3

Tatsuo Oomori, Deputy General Manager, Power Device works, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. He joined the company in 1980 after received his M.S. degree from the University of Tokyo in electronic engineering, and started his career as an R&D engineer at Central Research Laboratory, which later changed its name to the Advanced Technology R&D Center. He became manager of the Advanced device technology department in 2003, then manager of the SiC Device Development Project Group in 2005. In 2009, he was promoted to general manager of SiC device development Center, and was assigned to Deputy General Manager of Power Device Works in 2010. He is currently responsible for business development of SiC devices.

High power density: In 2012, Mitsubishi Electric developed a prototype forced-air-cooled three-

phase 400V output inverter with all-silicon carbide (SiC) power modules,

with a power density of 50kVA per liter. (Courtesy of Mitsubishi Electric)

April 10 to 12Paris, France

SuccessfulSemiconductorFabless 2013Technology & supply chain challengesfor fabless semiconductor companies

For more information, please contact Sandrine Leroy (Leroy@yole.fr)

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J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

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C O M P A N y I N s I G H t

Thin wafers propel motor drive IGBTs along efficiency path

regardless of the changes that the power electronics industry faces, one thing remains the same. “The market is always interested

in greater efficiency,” underlined Alberto Guerra, vice-president, product marketing and strategic market development at El Segundo, California’s International Rectifier (IR) Corporation. Today, that need is particularly great in some locations, he added. “For example, China needs a lot more power and power stations. To control that, they need higher efficiency throughout the entire electrical power system. That’s especially clear in industrial contexts, which are tightly regulated.”

As Ir spotted this need developing, it became clear that its existing products weren’t optimally suited to such a high power, low switching speed market, added Llew vaughan-edmunds, the company’s IGBT product marketing manager, energy saving products. “The Gen 7 IGBT targeted high speed switching, particularly the solar industry,” he said. “we realised we needed to cover the slower sub-10 kHz frequency area for industrial motor drive markets.”

that realisation inspired Ir to spawn an entirely new IGBT generation to serve this area – its Generation 8, 1200V IGBTs. “The Gen 8 IGBT has got a very low vCE(on) to keep system efficiency as high as possible,” Vaughan-Edmunds said. “Now we have a portfolio that covers the whole switching frequency range.”

As well as its own products, IR used devices from its rivals that its customers asked it to better to set its benchmark target. That means the Generation 8 devices now offer significant improvements, said Guerra. “Because high current applications operate at relatively low switching frequencies, conduction losses dominate the overall efficiency range,” he said. “By a combination of wafer thinning and optimizing the trench dimensions, gate structure and a specific life-time control technique, we reduced losses relative to the benchmark.” Enabled by IR’s production on 8-inch float zone silicon wafers, having less material for current to pass through and better gain/conductivity both reduces conduction losses and improves thermal performance. It can also bring extra benefits. “People can now get the current ratings they need out of smaller die, helping them to save money,

increase efficiency and current density,” Guerra noted. “Generation 8 is a big increment relative to the previous generation.”

the advances achieved in these devices are not yet deployed across all applications, but Ir plans to use similar processes with other wafers so more industries can benefit. “In the future we are also going to work on epi substrates,” Guerra said. This strategy is needed because of the compromises inherent in the technology, he stressed. “IGBTs are particularly focussed on the application, and have to trade-off switching and conduction loss for the final use. High-frequency applications like UPS and induction heating need technology that switches more efficiently, relative to conduction losses.

That will help another dynamic sector of the IGBT market, and allow Ir to exploit the higher product volumes available there. “These energy savings are being expanded towards lower power levels, intersecting with the mass, consumer, market,” Guerra said. We have seen a very major surge in demand for induction heating, but also refrigerators and air conditioning. The motors and converters inside these products benefit from our advanced technology’s performance to deliver more ‘energy saving’ products. The pool of market demand is much wider when you reduce the power below 1kw and even 100-120W for pumps or compressors.”

International Rectifier’s Alberto Guerra and Llewellyn Vaughan-Edmunds tell Power Dev’ how new IGBT chip architectures are meeting high power applications’ needs.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Edmunds, IGBT Product Marketing Manager, Energy Saving Products, International Rectifier Corporation

Slim advantage: IR’s Ultra-Thin Wafer Technology reduces its Generation 8 IGBTs’ conduction path,

improving their VCE(on) values.(Courtesy of International Rectifier)

Alberto Guerra,Vice-President Product Marketing & Strategic Market Development, International Rectifier Corporation

“By a combination of wafer thinning

and optimizing the trench dimensions, gate structure and a specific life-time control technique, we reduced losses

relative to the benchmark,”

says Alberto Guerra.

while the innovation seen in the Generation 8 products is focussed at the die level, Guerra noted that full exploitation also needs advanced packaging. “Remember, there is no way to disconnect any power switch component from its packaging,” he said. “All the different vendors are driving towards thinner wafers, and pursuing similar metallization and assembly strategies. then the devices must be connected through sintering processes or other advanced techniques that enhance thermal characteristics, increase reliability and reduce stray inductance and resistance, or wire or ribbon bonding. The silicon and packaging technology improvements merge together.”

One example of such advanced packaging can be seen in IR’s latest offerings for high current applications. “We now have hybrid vehicle-oriented IGBT module sub-elements called COOLiR2, which are single switches in a kind of ‘Lego block’,” Guerra said. “Putting those components together either by compression bonding or standard reflow bonding can create inverters with a wide range of power, and great reliability.”

But while packaging is crucial, Guerra is most impressed by advances at device level. “In the past five or six years the shifts from planar to trench

technology, from thickness of 200 µm to 50-60 µm, is an incredible, fundamental improvement,” he said. vaughan-edmunds, meanwhile, points out that other applications still demand further advances. “In the future we see high-speed switching manufacturers wanting to reduce the copper and magnetics they use to be more cost efficient,” he said. “They need a higher switching frequency to do this, and IGBTs will therefore get faster.”

www.irf.com

I S S U E N ° 8 J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3

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Setting a benchmark: IR’s Generation 8 IGBT design allows best-in class VCE(on), optimized for industrial applications. (Courtesy of International Rectifier)

Llewellyn Vaughan-Edmunds, IGBT Product Marketing Manager, Energy Saving Products, International Rectifier CorporationPrior to joining IR, he held various positions within the semiconductor industry, including Applications engineer at Philips semiconductor and Product Marketing Manager at Inf ineon Technologies. He graduated from Liverpool university, united Kingdom, with a BSc (Hons. ) in App l ied Electronics.

Alberto Guerra, Vice-President Product Marketing & Strategic Market Development, International Rectifier CorporationAlberto Guerra works on business development for new semiconductor material (GaN) and new emerging power conversion technologies. Prior to this position, he served for 2 years as Divisional Vice President of IC & Integrated Product with Vishay Siliconix. He moved to Vishay after over two decades with International Rectifier, where he successfully served as vP sales-Marketing and Application of IR Power Semi Business Unit (IR-PSBU), and previously as VP Marketing & Business Development of IRSA Integrated Technologies. Previously, he also served as director of IGBTs & IC product line, Director of Corporate Application and Director of R&D for the Rectifiers product line.

Alexandre Avron,Technology & Market Analyst,Power Electronics,Yole Développement

A N A L y s t C O r N e r

IGBT developments face off against weak economy

IGBT device and module producers look set for a rough ride as governments pull back on spending in areas like renewable energy and transportation. “We have recently heard feedback from IGBT manufacturers, packaging companies and passive component manufacturers, claiming that there has been a critical downturn in 2011 or maybe 2012 for IGBTs,” Yole Développement market analyst Brice Le Gouic told Power Dev’. That means these transistors’ ongoing evolution will become even more important in determining their success in power electronics applications. Developments in IGBT packaging, wafers used in device manufacturing, and other production strategy changes continue – but can they put the industry back on its former rapid growth trajectory?

Virtually all IGBT producers compete across the entire range of relevant power electronics applications above 600V, from photovoltaic inverters to motor drives. The best established players, like Neubiberg, Germany’s Infineon and Tokyo, Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric and Fuji Electric, alone have the advantage of offering devices that can block voltages as high as 3,300V. But they also serve mid-voltage applications also, and that’s where most competition is in the industry,

explained Le Gouic’s colleague Alexandre Avron. “the battle is below 1,700v, where all players can manufacture IGBTs,” he said. “The biggest part of the market, in terms of revenues, is the 600-900V range.”

Now, some companies are looking to enter new territory beyond the low end of their traditional range. “We’ve seen a move towards the lower voltage 200-600v range in order to reach larger volume applications such as white goods and camera flashes,” explained Le Gouic. As well as competition from superjunction MOSFETs already used in this voltage range, this will mean producers will face stronger calls for regular price reductions.“There will be cost pressure because if you target commodity applications, necessarily cost becomes a critical driver,” Le Gouic added. “But the overall market will increase, so that means smaller margins, but much higher volumes.” Part of the ability to compete in this voltage range arises from the improvements that come as IGBT manufacturers progress through device generations. “With each new generation they’ve improved their designs, shrinking die size, which saves on costs,” Avron said. “Infineon has cut die size by 60-70 per cent between the first and fifth

Yole Développement’s Alexandre Avron and Brice Le Gouic explain how the industry has been hit by a slowdown even as it’s pushing towards lower voltages, float zone and larger diameter Czochralski wafers, a foundry model and packaging innovation.

J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 -30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

$M

$2 000M

$4 000M

$6 000M

$8 000M

$10 000M

$12 000M

$14 000M

$16 000M

$18 000M

$20 000M

An

nu

al

Gro

wth

Rate

(%

)

Mark

et

size

(M

$)

Power IC Power Modules Discretes Growth rate (%)

2006-2020 power device market size(Source: Yole Développement and WSTS – January 2013 - Data to be released Q2 2013 in the IGBT report)

Brice Le Gouic,Activity Leader,Power Electronics,Yole Développement

I S S U E N ° 8 J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3

17P O W E R d e v ’

generation of IGBTs. And with today’s trench field stop devices they are also thinning the wafer. Infineon has the lead here, going down to 50-70 µm thick and looking at 40 µm. Mitsubishi is also reducing their trench sizes so they can put more cells on the same die and therefore shrink the die.”

The analysts expect manufacturers to enhance IGBTs’ competitiveness in commodity applications by making manufacturing shifts already seen in other power electronic transistors. “Along with this voltage lowering, manufacturers are moving to larger wafer diameter platforms,” Le Gouic said. “Typically today most power IGBTs are manufactured on 6-inch and 8-inch wafers, but we’ve seen companies like Infineon moving to 12-inch. We are not sure if companies are manufacturing IGBTs on 12-inch wafers yet, but they are manufacturing power MOSFETs, and really want to reach low voltage applications.”

Cost control

Improvements outside such cost-focussed measures are less important to the IGBT market, underlined Le Gouic. “Each new generation of devices aims at reducing losses and improving general performance, of course,” he said. “But IGBTs are key

devices, secure on the power electronics market – proven technology with improving performance. Engineers don’t choose the IGBTs for performance necessarily, but because they fit very well with their expectations. IGBT innovation will be accepted on applications where overall cost is justified because you can reduce the size or the weight, or improve the efficiency or reliability of your system. In hybrid vehicles, innovation will be accepted for higher end vehicles, while modules from Chinese manufacturers with average quality product would be able to go in basic electric vehicles. In very high voltage applications such as grid electricity supply or low voltage consumer applications, the final user is able to pay the price for innovation.”

Therefore it might be hard to envision devices being made from anything other than conventional epitaxial silicon deposited

on silicon wafers sliced from crystals made using the Czochralski method. Yet float zone neutron transmutation doped (NTD) wafers, doped by converting silicon into phosphorus in nuclear reactors, are becoming more widely used for IGBT production. “The Ntd ingots come back with homogeneous resistivity all over the wafer so you can access higher performance IGBTs at higher voltage,” Le Gouic explained. “Also, once you slice them you don’t need epitaxy, which reduces the thickness of the wafer dramatically. By

reducing the wafer thickness, you also can make more wafers per ingot and so you can reduce costs.”

yet these advantages don’t currently deliver the low costs possible with Czochralski method silicon plus epitaxy needed for low voltages. That means float zone NTD wafers are only used in applications that will pay for the performance benefit they bring. “There is no trend to 12-inch wafer diameters for float zone wafers, because no reactor accepts over 8-inch ingots,” Le Gouic said. “Czochralski makes sense for lower voltage, higher volume applications simply because you can use a 12-inch platform. Most players would like to go to low voltage with Czochralski plus epitaxy and float zone wafers for high voltage applications. But nothing says that tomorrow you won’t be able to target the low voltage applications with float zone’s very thin wafer capabilities.”

China to deepen crisis?

with cost being so important, it will only be a matter of time before China’s emerging semiconductor industry makes a significant impact on the IGBT sector. Beijing, China, train manufacturer CSR has gained IGBT know-how by acquiring Lincoln, UK’s Dynex Semiconductor, though manufacturing is still done in the UK. The Yole Développement analysts expect that CSR will be joined by Shenzhen carmaker BYD, which they say can already make diodes and will be manufacturing an in-house developed IGBT by Q3 2013. But elsewhere in China, IGBTs are set to be produced according to a previously unseen manufacturing model. “Infineon, Mitsubishi Electric, Fuji Electric and other historical manufacturers have everything in-house, IGBT technology, manufacturing and R&D, and they survive by innovating,” Avron said. “But the Chinese players trying to enter the market are not trying to get the best devices. They are trying

IGBT generation

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

FS Trench Thin wafer

Field stop Trench

Field stop Planar

Non-punch

Through

Punch Through (planar)

NPT Trench

Normalized die size reduction for 1200V/75A IGBT

31% of Gen.1

Towards thinner and smaller dies

Time

“There will be cost pressure because if you target commodity applications, necessarily cost becomes a critical driver,” explains Brice Le Gouic.

Technology roadmap for IGBT(Source: Yole Développement – December 2012 - Data to be released Q2 2013 in the IGBT report)

Evolving down the generations: Infineon relies on internal IGBT innovation so that modules like

its Primepack 3, shown here, stay competitive. (Courtesy of Infineon Technologies)

to manufacture basic devices well, and they also rely on foundries, which the historic players don’t. So you’ve got fabless or fab-lite companies and foundries in China that will be able to manufacture IGBTs in the near future, we believe. You don’t have this in the rest of the world.” Chinese foundries with IGBT processes on their roadmap include Jiangsu’s CsMC, plus sMIC, Grace semiconductors and Hua Hong NEC in Shanghai.

when devices made using these processes become commercial, that will load even more pressure on manufacturers with in-house production. “It will be tough for European, US and Japanese players to follow this trend,” Le Gouic said. “Their survival will be mostly due to innovation at the die level, and we also know that those companies are working on packaging technology at the module level.”

In fact, packaging technologies’ importance has increased surprisingly rapidly, according to Avron. “People realise now that there are some issues at the module, or even at the system level, they really want to improve the packaging technologies,” he said. “You’ll see packaging innovation even for discretes, moving them from TO-220 and TO-247 to smaller surface-mount packages, like DPAK and D2PAK. They’ve already got the smaller packaging and reduced labour benefits this brings in MOSFETs, and we expect that IGBTs will also move to this kind of package.”

Le Gouic agrees that along with Chinese manufacturing companies’ entry into IGBT production, the surge in packaging innovation has been one of the most surprising recent developments. He added that it’s partly down to rapid module evolution. “You can use several types of devices in the same module, for example, IGBTs and super junction MOSFETS or IGBTs and SiC diodes. These have different temperatures to withstand, and have different frequency to support,” he noted. “This means innovation at the die-bonded copper substrate level, at the cooling level, at the die attach. It also means innovation at the wiring level. Will they keep

on using wire bonding? If so, will they remain with aluminium or move to copper? Or will they use ribbon bonding or copper pillars? These are the questions that we are facing now.”

Progress in these areas, as well as external economic factors, will mean IGBT growth will recover the analysts predict. “At worst there was some kind of slowdown in 2012 for the IGBT market, caused by a slowdown in the applications in 2011, in wind turbines, renewable energies and traction,” said Avron. “The impact is one year later as there were stocks and quite long lead times for these devices and modules.” While they are still studying the downturn’s full impact, the analysts don’t believe it has reduced the size of the IGBT market. In total, Yole Développement has estimated that $3.5 billion worth of IGBT discretes and modules were sold in 2011, but future growth will likely fluctuate. “It will be a sawtooth,” Avron explained. “Some recovery in 2013, a smaller slowdown in 2014 and more steady growth in 2015 if the general economy recovers and stabilises.”

Yole Développement will release in 2013 Q2 its first IGBT market & technology trends report.

www.yole.fr

J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

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Alexandre Avron is a full time analyst in power electronics at Yole Développement. He was granted a Master degree in Electrical engineering, with a major in power electronics and microelectronics processes, from Applied Sciences National Institute (INSA) of Lyon, France.

Brice Le Gouic is in charge of the power electronics department at Yole Développement, and has performed several market research and technology analyses in power electronics. He has a Master’s degree in electronic engineering, with a major in Microelectronics, from the applied sciences national institute (INSA) of Toulouse, France.

Flexible design: The silicon layers in Infineon’s Trenchstop 5 IGBTs are so thing that the wafers

they’re made on are flexible.(Courtesy of Infineon Technologies)

“At worst there was some kind of slowdown in

2012 for the IGBT market, caused by a slowdown in the

applications in 2011, in wind turbines,

renewable energies and traction,”

explainsAlexandre Avron.

www.pcim-asia.com

J A N u A r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

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2 0 1 3 e v e N t r e v I e w

Yole Développement’s power electronics analysts team chose to attend the following key events covering the supply chain:

• CAR-ELE JAPAN - Int’l Automotive Electronics Technology ExpoJanuary 16 to 18 – Tokyo, Japanwww.car-ele.jp

• 8th European Advanced Technology workshop On Micropackaging and Thermal Management

February 6 to 7 – La Rochelle, Francewww.france.imapseurope.org

• APEC - The Applied Power Electronics Conference and ExpositionMarch 17 to 21 – Long Beach, CA - USAwww.apec-conf.org

• Successful Semiconductor FablessApril 10 to 12 – Paris, Francewww.ssf2013.fr

• AMPA Auto TronicsApril 10 to 13 – Taipei, Taiwanwww.taipeiampa.com.tw

• DeciElecApril 17 to 18 – Tarbes, Francewww.abe-industry.com/decielec

• PCIM EuropeMay 14 to 16 – Nuremberg, Germanywww.mesago.de/en/PCIM/main.htm

• 25th Int’l Symposium on Power Semiconductor Sevices and Ics (ISPSDs)May 26 to 30 – Kanazawa, Japanwww.ispsd2013.com

• PCIM AsiaJune 18 to 20 – Shanghai, Chinawww.mesago.de/en/AsiaPCIM

• Semicon westJuly 9 to 11 – San Francisco, CA - USAwww.semiconwest.org

• TaitronicsOctober 10 to 12 – Taipei, Taiwanwww.taitronics.tw

• Power Electronics 2013November 26 to 28 – Moscow, Russiawww.power.primexpo.ru

Feel free to contact Camille Favre (favre@yole.fr) in charge of the Power Electronics events at Yole Développement, for any questions.

j a n u a r y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 8

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About Yole Développement

Editorial StaffBoard Members: jean-Christophe Eloy – Media activity, Editor in chief: Dr Eric Mounier – Editor in chief: Brice Le Gouic - Editors: alexandre avron, Wenbin Ding, Brice Le Gouic, Dr Philippe roussel, andy Extance – Media & Communication Manager: Sandrine Leroy - Media & Communication Coordinator: Camille Favre - Production: atelier jBBOX

CONTACTS

Beginning in 1998 with yole Développement, we have grown to become a group of companies providing market research, technology analysis, strategy consulting, media in addition to finance services. With a solid focus on emerging applications using silicon and/or micro manufacturing yole Développement group has expanded to include more than 50 associates worldwide covering MEMS, MedTech, advanced Packaging, Compound Semiconductors, Power Electronics, LED, Imaging and Photovoltaics. The group supports companies, investors and R&D organizations worldwide to help them understand markets and follow technology trends to develop their business.

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