News

30 March 2009

 

Nippon Steel to start SiC wafer production

Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp says that from 1 April its subsidiary Nippon Steel Materials Co Ltd will start full production and sales of single-crystal n-type silicon carbide (4H-SiC) wafers with diameters of 2 inches (50mm), 3 inches (76mm) and 4 inches (100mm), according to a report by Nikkei Microdevices.

Nippon Steel reckons on being the first Japanese manufacturer to commercialize 100mm SiC wafers. The firm is targeting Japanese manufacturers of SiC power semiconductor devices, initially for use in industrial machines, servers, solar batteries etc, followed by hybrid vehicles and electric cars.

For each diameter of wafer, the firm reduced the micropipe defect density (seen as one of the main causes of yield loss) to 1 per cm 2 or less (comparable to that of Cree's wafers, it is claimed). "To improve the crystal quality of SiC wafers, we leveraged ultra-high-temperature control techniques that have been developed through experience with our blast furnaces for iron making," says Wataru Ohashi, general manager of Nippon Steel’s Advanced Technology Research Laboratories.

Until now, Nippon Steel has provided sample wafers for use in prototyping devices. Based at a plant in Yorii, Saitama Prefecture (owned by Nippon Steel Materials’ subsidiary Nippon Micrometal Corp), the firm targets initial production of 200-400 wafers per month and annual sales of several hundreds of millions of yen. It then aims to scale up production and – driven by start up of the device market – to grow sales several-fold to ¥10bn by 2015 ( a 33% share of the global SiC wafer market, which is currently dominated by Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA). "We can definitely be the second largest manufacturer after Cree Inc," reckons Nippon Steel Materials’ president Teruaki Ishiyama.

In addition, the firm says that, while Cree plans to commercialize 6-inch (150mm) wafers in 2009 or 2010, Nippon Steel Materials aims to ship samples of 6-inch wafers in 2011.

Picture: 2-4 inch (50-100mm) SiC wafers commercialized by Nippon Steel.

Regarding epitaxial wafers (with pre-deposited epitaxial films), Nippon Steel owns production equipment and is considering a plan to commercialize them when demand picks up, says Kohei Tatsumi, Nippon Steel Materials’ director for the technology management & business development.

Search: Nippon Steel Materials 4H-SiC wafers

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