X-Fab and Soitec team up to offer SmartSiC at Lubbock plant
Pure-play foundry X-Fab and Soitec will begin work to offer Soitec’s SmartSiC wafers for the production of silicon carbide power devices at X-Fab's plant in Lubbock, Texas.
This collaboration follows the successful completion of the assessment phase, during which silicon carbide (SiC) power devices were manufactured at X-Fab Texas on 150mm SmartSiC wafers. Soitec will offer X-Fab’s customers access to the SmartSiC substrate through a joint supply chain consignment model.
SmartSiC is a proprietary Soitec technology based on the company’s SmartCut process, in which a thin layer of a high-quality monocrystalline (mono-SiC) ‘donor’ wafer is split off and bonded to a low resistivity polycrystalline (poly-SiC) ‘handle’ wafer. The resulting substrate offers improved device performance and manufacturing yields. The process allows multiple re-uses of a single donor wafer – reducing cost and related CO2 emissions.
In this fast-growing market, Soitec is ramping up production of SmartSiC substrates at its new plant in Bernin, near Grenoble in France. X-Fab is increasing production capacity for SiC devices at the Lubbock plant.
“Soitec’s SmartSiC substrates and X-FAB’s foundry services are a perfect fit to meet increasing demand for new SiC products. This cooperation is a significant milestone for the deployment of SmartSiC in the U.S. market and internationally, thanks to X-FAB’s global footprint,” says Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, Soitec Executive Vice President Automotive and Industry in a press release.
