X-FAB Silicon Foundries is putting itself at the vanguard of wide-bandgap semiconductor production by announcing the availability of its silicon carbide (SiC) offering from its wafer fab in Lubbock, Texas.

Thanks to major internal investments in the conversion of capital equipment, as well as the support provided by the PowerAmerica Institute at NC State University, X-FAB Texas has heavily upgraded its manufacturing resources in order to make them “SiC-ready”. Among the tools now added are a high-temperature anneal furnace, backgrind equipment for thinning SiC wafers, backside metal sputter and backside laser anneal tools. A high-temperature implanter is scheduled for installation later this year. X-FAB can, as a result, now fully leverage the economies of scale that are already available in its established 30K wafer per month silicon line, thereby presenting the market with the means to produce large volumes of SiC devices on 6-inch wafers.

As well as X-FAB’s 6-inch wafer capabilities, other key differentiators need to be factored into the SiC equation. Among these will be higher yields and accelerated ramp-up to full scale production, plus the company’s decades of experience in manufacturing semiconductor devices which adhere to the most stringent quality standards, such as those for automotive applications. Not only will X-FAB supply fabless semiconductor vendors, the company will also be well positioned to serve as a second source solution for IDMs with their own SiC manufacturing.

“Current SiC offerings are either IDMs creating their own products or relatively small foundry operations using 4-inch production facilities,” states Andy Wilson, X-FAB’s Director of Strategic Business Development. “X-FAB is bringing something different to the market, with a SiC capacity of 5k wafers/month ready to utilize and potential to raise this further. We can thus offer a scalable, high quality, secure platform that will enable customers to cost-effectively obtain discrete devices on SiC substrates and also safely apply vital differentiation.”

Source

Basic 3C Inc., a Longmont startup aiming to go to market soon with a new type of semiconductor, has added about $650,000 from existing investors to a Series A round of funding.

Basic 3C president Bart Van Zeghbroeck said this week that the hope is that the latest funds get the company through the next six months before raising a Series B.

Founded in April 2014, the company — based at 1830 Boston Ave. — has been in product-development mode, but is hoping to commercialize its first product in the next six months.

Basic 3C’s semiconductors will be made from cubic silicon carbide, rather than silicon. Geared toward high-power applications operating at 600 volts or more that require efficient power conversion, the product will have higher thermal conductivity and do well in “operationally rugged environments,” Van Zeghbroeck said. He said targeted applications include solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles. A reduced cooling requirement would mean reduced size and weight and thus, in something like an electric vehicle, improved efficiency and range.

“We’re looking at significantly better material properties, and that makes a difference in the end application,” Van Zeghbroeck said.

Investors in the company include Boulder-based Infield Capital and Texas-based Dankat LLC.

Van Zeghbroeck is on leave from the University of Colorado, where he has been an electrical engineering professor since 1990. He and investors purchased the technology and intellectual property for Basic 3C from a Golden company, Silicon Carbide Systems, that had gone bankrupt.

Van Zeghbroeck said Basic 3C will initially do manufacturing at its current space in Longmont. The company has fewer than 10 employees, but he said he expects that number to grow to 15 or 20 within the next 18 months.