By Li Panpan

Chinese chip suppliers are increasing investment in R&D and production capacity of SiC substrates, driven by SiC’s excellent growth potential and vast applications, especially in the automobile field, JW Insights reported.

The SiC industry chain includes substrate and epitaxy in the upstream, chip and module making in the midstream, and downstream applications. Among them, substrate manufacturing is with the highest technical barriers and the largest value. In 2020, the cost of substrates accounted for 47% of the entire cost of SiC chips. High cost and low yield of substrates are the main factors restricting the penetration of third-generation semiconductors at this stage.

Chinese IC companies have successively made breakthroughs in SiC 8-inch substrate growth technology. JSG(晶盛机电) released its first self-developed 8-inch N-type SiC crystal.

The Institute of Physics under Chinese Academy of Sciences initially produced an 8-inch SiC crystal on a self-developed substrate in January 2021 and then successfully came up with an 8-inch SiC crystal of a single 4H crystal.

SemicSiC(烁科晶体) achieved small batch production of 8-inch N-type silicon carbide polished wafers in August 2021.

SICC(天岳先进) said the crystal form on their self-developed 8-inch silicon carbide substrate is uniform and stable, with good crystal quality in September.

With the gradual mass production of 8-inch substrates, the cost of SiC power chips may be significantly reduced. Up to now, 12 companies in the world have successfully developed 8-inch silicon carbide substrates.

The current mainstream shipments in the Chinese market are 4 inches of semi-insulating type and 6 inches of conductive type. There is still a large gap between Chinese manufacturers and international giants in 6-inch semi-insulating and 6-inch conductive substrate products. There is no Chinese manufacturer that can ship 6-inch conductive silicon carbide products in batches currently, according to industry insiders.

As for production capacity, the global effective capacity of SiC wafers was only 200,000-300,000 pieces in 2021. The current production capacity of SICC and Tanke Blue(天科合达) is about 52,000 and 45,000 pieces/year, respectively, occupying a particular market share.

International giants are in full swing in improving silicon carbide production capacity. The major reason for them to increase input in third-generation semiconductors is thatTesla adopted in 2018 650V SiC MOSFETs in Model 3, improving the inverter efficiency by 5%-8% and the battery life of electric vehicles. It’s a move that made SiC the focus of global car companies, and the silicon carbide industry has become a valuable investment overnight.

Today, SiC applications in the automotive field are in a critical market opportunity. SiC demand has seen a rapid increase for EVs’ main inverter modules, and SiC is a new frontier in power semiconductor technology, revolutionizing the power conversion ecosystem.

Yole data shows that the global silicon carbide power semiconductor market is expected to grow from $1.090 billion to $6.297 billion in 2021-2027, of which the automotive-grade market is expected to increase from $685 million in 2021 to $4.986 billion in 2027, with a CAGR of 39.2%. In 2027, the proportion of automotive-grade SiC chips is expected to increase to 79.18% in the entire SiC market.

Chinese car manufacturers have also successively adopted SiC high-efficiency electric drive platforms. Zeekr(极氪汽车) announced cooperation with CATL on August 27, with Zeekr becoming the first brand to use CATL’s Kirin battery for global mass production.

The new model ET7 announced earlier by NIO is also equipped with a new generation of SiC high-efficiency electric drive platform. BYD's Han-EV and Hyundai's Ioniq-5 have achieved good sales by providing fast charging functions, and more OEM models such as NIO and Xpeng will bring SiC EVs to the market in 2022; Leadrive Technology's SiC module products are adopted in SAIC-GM’s Wuling models.

Silicon carbide has excellent application prospects in rail transportation, photovoltaics, and other fields, boosting their systems' efficiency and overall performance. SiC MOSFET power modules used in photovoltaic inverters can reduce energy loss by more than 50% and increase the equipment’s cycle life by 50 times.

Silicon carbide semiconductors will play an important role in 5G base station construction, UHV, new energy vehicles, and other fields in the future.

Overall, the third-generation semiconductor industry is still in its infancy. Chinese players and international giants are basically on the same starting line. With the vigorous growth of downstream demand and the strong support of China’s national policies and funds, high-quality Chinese manufacturers can seize the opportunity to stand out in the market, said the JW Insights article.