Bosch gives go-ahead for volume production of SiC chips

Bosch is convinced that in the future, more and more production vehicles will feature these chips. “The future for silicon carbide semiconductors is bright. We want to become a global leader in the production of SiC chips for electromobility,” says Harald Kroeger, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, in a press release. Two years ago, the supplier announced that it would push ahead with the development of SiC chips and enter production. Since then, Bosch has developed its own manufacturing processes, which it has been using to produce the special semiconductors since the beginning of 2021 – initially as samples for customer validation. “Our order books are full, thanks to the boom in electromobility,” according to Kroeger. Bosch says that in the future, the company will expand its production capacity for SiC power semiconductors to a unit volume running into the hundreds of millions. With this in mind, the company has already started expanding the clean-room space at its Reutlingen plant. At the same time, the company is working on the next generation of its SiC chips, which should be ready for volume production in 2022. In order to meet the expected increased demand for these semiconductors, an extra 1,000 square metres has already been added to the clean-room space at the Bosch wafer fab in Reutlingen in 2021. Another 3,000 square metres will be added by the end of 2023. The new space will house production facilities for manufacturing silicon carbide semiconductors using processes developed in-house.