Ascatron and LPE cooperate on 150 mm SiC epitaxy for power electronics

Ascatron AB, supplier of silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxy material, and LPE SpA, a pioneer in epitaxy reactors for power electronics, have entered into a cooperation agreement to develop high performance SiC epitaxial material for volume production on 150 mm substrates. The first results demonstrating outstanding uniformity will be presented at the ICSCRM2015 conference in Catania.

Ascatron has installed a new SiC epitaxy reactor supplied by LPE in its production fab in Kista-Stockholm. The  reactor system with 150 mm wafer capability has the model name PE106. It is a new development from LPE and has recently been introduced on the market. Industry shortest cycle time and smallest footprint makes it an optimal choice for production of Ascatron’s high quality epitaxial material for high voltage power devices.

“The new production equipment from LPE is key to scale-up Ascatron advanced epitaxy processes to state-of-the-art 150 mm SiC wafers”

,says Christian Vieider, CEO of Ascatron. “We are now ready to provide our customers with n-type doped epi wafers with thicknesses from 0.1 µm up to 100 µm”.

“The new PE1O6 will further enhance Ascatron unique epitaxy based SiC technology, which is set to gain worldwide acceptance among device makers because of its superior features”, according to Franco Preti, CEO of LPE. “The cooperation with Ascatron enables LPE to strengthen our position on the market even further”.

“The single wafer concept of the LPE reactor is ideal to optimize growth parameters for a wide range of processes”, says Adolf Schöner, CTO of Ascatron.

“We are now able to establish our unique growth processes for embedded pn junctions and 3D structures on this 150 mm wafer platform, which is a crucial step towards cost effective production of next generation SiC power devices”.