Power

The power electronics industry has been through a renaissance driven by the advent of smartphones, tablets, and electric vehicles. This has led to a wide range of methods to control the way electrical energy is transported and used across the power delivery and automation sectors. At the heart of this transition lies the power semiconductor device which modulates the flow of electrical energy to suit the demands of the application.

Silicon has traditionally been the material of choice and a wide array of power devices have been developed for power applications. Among these devices are LDMOS^* for power management IC (PMIC), vertical trench MOSFET^*, Super junction MOSFETs and IGBTs^*. 

In recent years, wide bandgap semiconductor materials such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN), have enabled a new generation of power devices with superior performance that have in turn launched a growing number of circuit topologies and applications. The resurgence of power devices has ushered in a new era of electrical automotives and renewable energy. 

The continued optimization of Si-based power devices, SiC high voltage MOSFETs and GaN HEMTs^* relies heavily on technology from Applied Materials. Power device manufacturers are pushing cost efficiencies higher by moving to bigger substrates. While Si PMIC and discrete power devices are transitioning to 300mm substrates, SiC and GaN are moving to 200mm substrates. In addition to the industry’s broadest and deepest product portfolio for 300mm equipment including epitaxy, etch and metals deposition, Applied Materials portfolio includes specialized tools for SiC and GaN devices such as implant, chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), dielectric deposition and metals deposition.

^*LDMOS - laterally-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor, MOSFET – metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor, IGBT- insulated-gate bipolar transistor, HEMT - high electron mobility transistor