Aixtron purpose of this thread
Auf der HV im letzten Jahr erfuhr ich, dass ein SiC wafer (substrate) ca $ 5.000 kosten kann. Das war eine riesige Überraschung für mich, da diese ja nur die Träger für die eigentliche SiC chips (devices) sind.
Auf der HV in 2024 habe ich gelernt, dass ein SiC ingot (boule) aus dem die SiC wafer geschnitten werden nur 3 bis 5 cm lang ist.
Hier ist Ergebnisse der Gemini Befragung:
how long is a SiC or silicon carbide boule?
Unlike the thickness of wafers which is dependent on the boule's diameter, the length of a SiC boule is significantly shorter compared to silicon ingots. Here's the key difference:
- SiC boule: The length falls in the range of 30 to 50 millimeters (mm) [2].
- Silicon ingot: These can reach lengths of several meters, typically multiple times longer than SiC boules.
This difference arises from the growth process. Growing SiC crystals is more complex and has a slower growth rate compared to silicon. This translates to shorter boules despite the significant cost involved in SiC production.
How thick is a SiC or silicon carbide wafer boule?
Silicon carbide (SiC) wafers are sliced from a larger cylindrical chunk called a boule. The thickness of the wafer itself depends on the diameter of the boule. Here's a breakdown:
- 150 mm diameter boules: Wafers sliced from these boules typically have a thickness of around 350 micrometers (µm) [3].
- 200 mm diameter boules: As the diameter increases, so does the wafer thickness for better stability. In this case, the wafers are around 500 micrometers (µm) thick [2].
Gruß
baggo-mh
has also found a related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeSXVKLj8kg
Gruß baggo-mh
There are indications that Infineon could be the 3rd Top 5 SiC customer which Aixtron has won.
Information comes from: Ng Kok Tiong is Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Infineon Technologies (Kulim)
Quote
Engineers at this fab will carry out all aspects on front-end processing, including production of SiC substrates from boules provided by five suppliers – two from China, two from the US, and one from Japan. Helping increase the margins associated with this process is the Cold Split technology that Infineon acquired from Siltectra in 2018. “With this new technology you can reduce some of the losses of the raw material,” says Ng.
Unquote
So if they cuts the substrates themselves from boules, Infineon for sure will do the epitaxy step themselves as well.
I still believe Infineon will be or is a SiC customer of Aixtron. Jeffries is also of that opinion: "Most importantly this includes a top 5 player (whom we believe to be Infineon given the CEO’s previous senior position and strong connections there),"
https://powerelectronicsworld.net/article/118350/...s_biggest_SiC_fab
While emphasis is initially on SiC at Kulim 3, efforts are also underway to develop GaN products at this site. The first steps towards this, now underway, involves the qualification of the growth process.
I find this also very, very interesting, as Aixtron hold a >90% market share in GaN Epitaxy tools.
Gruß baggo-mh
given that Wolfspeed is a substantial customer for Aixtron and given the high uncertainty around EVs, I found this Q&A session with Wolfspeed CEO at the JPM conference interesting.
It will be interesting to follow if/when the applications for SIC broaden out and/or when the EV sentiment changes. I think that will be a key driver for Aixtrons stock going forward along with the Q2 order intake as well as the Q3/FY revenue guidance.
https://jpmorgan.metameetings.net/events/tmc24/...cast/general_signin
Regards,
Fel
"25% utilization rate of Mohawk Valley supported from Building 10" (which is materials = SiC 200 wafers and crystals = SiC epitaxy layer done with Aixtron G10-SiC)
"we are very very pleased with the defectivity of the crstals"
"the hardest thing is to get the crystals right and the team has done a superior job with that"
"120 car models form 30 OEMs...... slowing of existing EV's is not what we are in"
"we remain capacity constrained .....the demand for our product is higher than our capacity"
"integrated........ into server farms" "Si chips for AI server farms redesigned to be replaced by SiC MOSFETs"
"all roads lead back to Wolfspeed as we have such high % in substrates"
"material agreemntss that we sign are all on 150 (mm)" duration roughly half a decade
CFO: "50% of our revenue comes from materials"
Very, very interesting Q&A type Interview. Thanks a million fel216
Greetings baggo-mh
https://www.businessinsider.de/wirtschaft/aktien-attacke-londoner-investmentfirma-setzt-milliarde-gegen-dax-firmen/
à bientôt
Jossy
Zeitpunkt: 29.05.24 13:56
Aktion: Löschung des Beitrages
Kommentar: Moderation auf Wunsch des Verfassers
Zeitpunkt: 29.05.24 13:56
Aktion: Löschung des Beitrages
Kommentar: Moderation auf Wunsch des Verfassers
There were only about 6m sales to Korea+Japan in 2023.
screenshot_(31).png (verkleinert auf 37%)
On May 22, according to Korean media reports, DB HiTek plans to introduce relevant equipment needed for the production of gallium nitride devices in the third quarter of this year and complete mass production preparations by the end of this year.
An industry insider said that DB HiTek plans to introduce Aixtron MOCVD equipment to its Sangwoo Fab in Hyangseong, Chungbuk Province, with the goal of installing the equipment in the third quarter and establishing the process flow in the fourth quarter. The GaN foundry is expected to start operations from the beginning of next year.
DB HiTek has been active in the field of third-generation semiconductors in the past two years. In December last year, DB HiTek announced an investment of 400 billion won (about 2.12 billion yuan), with the goal of increasing the production capacity of gallium nitride to 10,000 pieces per month by 2026. The project is expected to have additional investment.
According to "Experts Say Three and a Half Generations", the company has also invested 700 billion won (about 3.72 billion yuan) to enter the silicon carbide market, with a target mass production time of 2028 and an estimated production capacity of 20,000 pieces per month. To this end, SiC ion implantation equipment will also be introduced to Sangwoo Fab in the third quarter of this year.
In addition to DB Hitech, many Korean manufacturers are also promoting the commercialization of GaN foundry services. For example, Samsung Electronics and Key Foundry also purchase metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment from Aixtron. Among them, Samsung Electronics plans to fully mass-produce gallium nitride semiconductors next year.
From #1500:
In particular, it is reported in the industry that Samsung Electronics decided to introduce Excitron's latest GaN/SiC MOCVD equipment at a minimum cost of 700 to 800 billion won during this discussion.
800B won is about 500m euros
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Over 22 billion yuan project "landed" STMicroelectronics and Sanan Optoelectronics' silicon carbide plan
June 08, 2023 20:20 21st Century Business Herald 21 Finance APP Zhang Sainan
21st Century Business Herald reporter Zhang Sainan reports from Shanghai
The two major semiconductor companies will work together to implement projects worth more than 22 billion yuan.
On June 7, STMicroelectronics and Sanan Optoelectronics (600703.SH) both officially announced that the two parties will jointly establish a joint venture foundry company specializing in silicon carbide epitaxy and chip production - Sanan STMicroelectronics (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. (tentative name, hereinafter referred to as the "joint venture company").
According to the announcement, the total investment amount of the project is expected to be US$3.2 billion (about RMB 22.8 billion), which will be invested in succession according to the progress of the joint venture. The joint venture is mainly engaged in silicon carbide epitaxy and chip production. The project will start construction after obtaining approval for various procedures, complete phased construction and gradually put into production in 2025, and reach full production in 2028. It is planned to produce 10,000 8-inch silicon carbide wafers per week after reaching full production.
One is a world top ten semiconductor company, and the other is an A-share chip company. Silicon carbide is a core material of the third generation semiconductors, which can be made into silicon carbide-based gallium nitride radio frequency devices and silicon carbide power devices. Benefiting from the development of 5G communications, new energy vehicles and new energy photovoltaics, the growth potential of silicon carbide is highly expected. The large-scale cooperation between the two has attracted great attention from the market.
One more move
The announcement shows that in the joint venture, Hunan San'an (a wholly-owned subsidiary of San'an Optoelectronics) holds a 51% stake, and STMicroelectronics (STMicroelectronics International NV, referred to as ST) holds a 49% stake, and both have invested in installments in the form of monetary funds.
The 21st Century Business Herald reporter further learned that of the total investment of about 22.8 billion yuan, capital expenditure in the next five years will be about 17 billion yuan. As of the end of the first quarter of 2023, Sanan Optoelectronics had 8.091 billion yuan in cash, including accounts receivable, inventory and other assets, and current assets totaling 20.38 billion yuan.
Obviously, for such a huge investment, Sanan Optoelectronics needs a partner.
The announcement revealed that the above funding sources include capital investment from STMicroelectronics and Sanan Optoelectronics, as well as support from the Chongqing government and external loans from the joint venture.
According to the agreement, the joint venture will use the intellectual property rights approved by ST to manufacture silicon carbide wafers and sell them exclusively to the exclusive purchaser ST (or any entity designated by ST). Hunan Sanan or its designated party will supply substrates to the joint venture and sign an agreement. Sanan Optoelectronics promises to ensure that Hunan Sanan complies with the joint venture agreement and the substrate supply agreement. The joint venture will sign a long-term silicon carbide substrate supply agreement with Hunan Sanan to ensure the joint venture's future material process needs.
From the above content, it can be seen that the joint venture will obtain technical support from STMicroelectronics and supply STMicroelectronics exclusively.
Sanan Optoelectronics said in the announcement, "This investment will expand production capacity to ensure the use of the joint venture's substrates, which will help expand the company's revenue scale, increase the market share of the company's products, and improve the company's profitability."
A reporter from 21st Century Business Herald learned that Sanan Optoelectronics has continued to expand its layout in the silicon carbide field in recent years.
Among them, the first phase of the Changsha SiC full-industry chain factory invested by Hunan Sanan with a total investment of RMB 16 billion was put into production in June 2021, with the production capacity of 6-inch SiC wafers climbing to 15,000 pieces/month. The second phase of the project is expected to be completed in 2023, with an annual production capacity of 500,000 6-inch SiC wafers after reaching full production. In 2020, Hunan Sanan acquired Fujian Nortel New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., whose main business is SiC crystal growth and substrate manufacturing; in 2022, Hunan Sanan and Ideal Auto jointly established Suzhou Sike Semiconductor Co., Ltd., with a planned annual production capacity of 2.4 million SiC half-bridge power modules. The infrastructure construction of the project has been completed.
A relevant person in charge of Sanan Optoelectronics recently revealed in an interview with the media that "customer orders are too late to be delivered." The company currently has long-term purchase orders for silicon carbide MOSFETs worth more than 7 billion yuan, of which the strategic purchase intention agreement for silicon carbide chips signed with a well-known car company has reached 3.8 billion yuan, and the intention of cooperation with several other new energy vehicle customers is also being followed up.
Regarding the cooperation with STMicroelectronics, Lin Kechuang, CEO of Sanan Optoelectronics, said: "The establishment of this joint venture will strongly promote the widespread adoption of SiC devices in the Chinese market. As an internationally renowned high-quality SiC wafer foundry service company, Sanan will also build a new SiC substrate factory to provide SiC substrates for the newly established joint venture. This is an important step for Sanan Optoelectronics to become a professional SiC wafer foundry."
It is worth noting that this cooperation involves cooperation with overseas companies. The partners still need to obtain approval from overseas competent authorities, and the project still needs to be reviewed and approved by relevant state ministries and commissions and approved by the company's shareholders' meeting.
Demand outstrips supply
For STMicroelectronics, this cooperation ensures the supply of silicon carbide, and also reflects the hot market for silicon carbide devices.
STMicroelectronics is a major international company in the industrialization of silicon carbide power devices. According to its official website, STMicroelectronics launched its first silicon carbide diode as early as 2004, SiC MOSFET was launched in 2009, and mass production began in 2014. Related products are used in electric vehicle (EV) applications, solar inverters, energy storage, industrial motor drives and power supplies.
According to Yole data, STMicroelectronics ranked first in the sales revenue ranking of silicon carbide power devices in 2021, with revenue of 3.2 billion yuan; followed by Infineon with revenue of 1.76 billion yuan, almost twice as much as ST.
The above ranking shows STMicroelectronics' status in the silicon carbide power device market, which also means that its demand for upstream materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) is huge.
A reporter from 21st Century Business Herald noted that STMicroelectronics has always wanted to improve its internal supply capacity of silicon carbide.
In April this year, STMicroelectronics China executives said in an interview with the media that the demand for silicon carbide is huge and it is difficult for the semiconductor industry to provide enough silicon carbide. One of the challenges comes from the substrate. However, the global SiC substrate wafer market is mainly in the hands of several suppliers, and STMicroelectronics cannot always rely on external substrates. Therefore, the company has made plans and taken practical actions to integrate silicon carbide substrates into the entire manufacturing strategy of silicon carbide devices and technologies. Its goal is to achieve internal supply of more than 40% of silicon carbide substrates by 2024.
The establishment of the joint venture is a key step for ST to control the SiC supply chain.
Jean-Marc Chery, President and CEO of STMicroelectronics, said of the collaboration: "Combining Sanan Optoelectronics' future 8-inch substrate manufacturing plant, the newly established front-end joint venture manufacturing plant, and ST's existing back-end manufacturing plant in Shenzhen, China, ST will be able to provide our Chinese customers with a fully vertically integrated SiC value chain. This move will be an important step in further expanding ST's global SiC manufacturing business following its continued significant investments in Italy and Singapore. The new joint venture will help ST achieve its goal of achieving more than 35 billion yuan in SiC revenue by 2030."
In recent years, the booming new energy market has led to a substantial increase in demand for silicon carbide devices. TrendForce predicts that by 2023, the overall market value of silicon carbide power devices will reach 16.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.4%. By 2026, the market value of silicon carbide power devices is expected to reach 37.84 billion yuan.
It is worth noting that Tesla had previously proposed that the use of SiC in the next generation of electric vehicles would be cut by 75%, which once caused the market to worry about the prospects of silicon carbide. However, an industry insider told reporters that " high-end models have high requirements for performance and energy consumption, so SiC will still be used. Tesla has a large shipment volume. If all of them use SiC, the world's leading companies cannot afford it. In order to increase the volume, they will consider reducing SiC ."
Another industry insider told the reporter, " Silicon carbide has certain advantages in automotive applications, but the cost is very high and the cycle is long, so it is difficult to achieve industrialization in the short term. "
This has also made the few domestic manufacturers with supply capabilities increasingly popular. According to statistics, the A-share companies that have increased the volume of silicon carbide products or made related arrangements include China Resources Microelectronics, Star Semiconductor, New Clean Energy, Silan Microelectronics, etc.
https://www.21jingji.com/article/20230608/herald/...defd6e26296a.html
STMicroelectronics N.V.
Fri, May 31, 2024, 2:14 AM EDT4 min read
"... including SiC substrate development, epitaxial growth processes, 200mm front-end wafer fabrication "
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...ld-world-first-fully-061400783.html
According to the Hunan Liujian Huaxi Company, on May 18, the 8-inch silicon carbide epitaxial and chip project (living service facility area) of STMicroelectronics was fully capped . The project started in November 2023, with a construction period of 257 days and a total construction area of 37,000 square meters. It mainly includes four dormitory buildings A1 to A4 and Building C1 (canteen and activity center).
Just last month (April), STMicroelectronics' 8-inch silicon carbide epitaxial and chip project announced that the main structure had been topped out and is currently advancing interior decoration and equipment procurement. It is expected to be put into production in August this year , two months ahead of schedule.
According to a previous report by "Experts Talk about Three and a Half Generations", the project is jointly built by Hunan San'an (51% stake) and STMicroelectronics (49% stake), with a total investment of approximately RMB 23 billion . After the entire plant is completed, it will be able to produce 520,000 automotive-grade SiC MOSFET chips annually.
https://www.eet-china.com/mp/a317092.html
This is from an unkonwn company in Chhongqing where the JV resides.
SiC Epitaxy Development Engineer
Chongqing 5-10 years Undergraduate
Job Description: 1. Research and develop epitaxial growth process according to the epitaxial structure design of SiC devices; 2. Participate in the research, selection, move in, secondary matching, installation and equipment acceptance of epitaxial equipment, release production capacity in time within the required time and ensure that the new equipment meets the process requirements...
Job Requirements: 1. ... 4. Those with epitaxial R&D experience of AIXTRON G5+ MOCVD machine are preferred;...
but the "stock problem" is that the stocks of the customers will mostly perform better than Aixtron the supplier.
Aixtron will sell x y machines. as i understood they tend to run for a minimum of 5-10 years. so Aixtron at some point will have to decide if they might try to enter new segments ( fingers crossed MircoLED will work ) because the customer will always be able to make profit of the machines while Aixtron can only calculate on Service fees etc.
CWL1 schon einen Bezug zu STM herstellen können - wenn auch anecdotal. I love your anecdotes CWL1 but ran out of stars to honor it. More please if you can.
Am 31.05.: läuft das über die Ticker: https://www.finanznachrichten.de/...carbide-facility-in-italy-020.htm
Am Montag darauf 3.6. gibt Aixtron den Erwerb einer Produktionsstätte in Italien bekannt. "The plant, which is expected to be the world's first fully integrated silicon carbide facility, will be built under the company's projected 5 billion euros multi-year investment program, including 2 billion euros support provided by the State of Italy in the framework of the EU Chips Act.
Ich vermute, dass die Subventionen nur in voller Höhe gezahlt werden, wenn die benötigten Maschinen das Label - Made in Italy - tragen.
So würde es für mich Sinn ergeben was Aixtron gerade macht. Man darf nicht vergessen, dass
- Aixtron den 3ten Top 5 SiC Customer namentlich nicht bekanntgeben hat.
- San'an und STM gerade eine 200mm (materials = wafer) Produktion in China aus dem Boden stampfen
Schaun mer mal
Gruß baggo-mh
Navitas ist bekannlich Aixtron Kunde.
https://www.leistungselektronik.de/...fcf93080d2e3c13cb9eb8e1003ef8f/
Gruß baggo-mh
Aixtron acquires a third production site at a bargain price; BUY
Acquisition of production site in Italy. Aixtron announced the acquisition of a production site near Turin from an undisclosed seller, adding to its existing production sites in Herzogenrath (Germany) and Cambridge (UK). The site is an existing facility with the necessary utilities. Aixtron's production is very lean, consisting mainly of assembly and intensive testing, so production at the new site can be ramped up quickly, with the first tools possibly being shipped later this year. The new site will enable Aixtron to increase capacity by 30-40% in a short period of time, with further capacity expansion possible in the future with relatively low capital investment. All of Aixtron's tools can be built at the new site, and Aixtron expects to ship a significant portion of its production from there within two to three years.
Attractive purchase price. Aixtron earlier this year guided for capex of EUR 100m to 120m for FY24. The capex to acquire the site and get it ready for production, estimated at very low double digit million Euro figure, according to the company is included in this number. Aixtron has not disclosed whether the new site will be supported by subsidy schemes. However, STMicroelectronics this week announced plans to build a new factory in Catania, Italy, at an expected cost of EUR 5bn, with subsidies under the EU Chips Act expected to cover EUR 2bn of the total bill. It would be surprising if Aixtron's investment did not also benefit from subsidies.
https://www.research-hub.de/companies/AIXTRON%2520SE
Greetings baggo-mh