SEOUL – LG Innotek said Wednesday it is showcasing its innovative semiconductor substrates at this week's KPCA Show 2024, held at the Songdo Convensia in Incheon, from Wednesday to Friday.

The KPCA Show is the largest annual exhibition of printed circuit board and electronic packaging, hosted by the Korea PBC and the Korea Printed Circuit Association for 21 years.

LG Innotek plans to unveil its package substrate and tape substrate products along with high-value semiconductor substrates, called Flip Chip Ball Grid Array. The company will boast the latest technology applied to its new growth engine, FC-BGA.

FC-BGA is a high-density printed circuit board that incorporates semiconductor substrate implementation technologies, including micropatterning and subminiature processing. With 3D models showing the inner structure of FC-BGA, visitors can see its multilayer, high-density structural features.

LG Innotek will also present the multilayer core substrate technology, essential for manufacturing large-area substrates. The maker has improved signal efficiency by diversifying the material composition of the core layer.

Additionally, next-generation substrate technology such as the glass core for advanced substrates and high-frequency noise elimination will be revealed at the KPCA Show.

LG will showcase its FC-BGA products for PCs, servers and autonomous driving. In the mobile zone, the company will display semiconductor substrates used in wireless front-end modules and application processors, while showcasing Chip on Film in the display zone.

“This year’s KPCA Show can create the momentum for our 50-year substrate technology to gain recognition. By launching high-value substrate products, we will further solidify our position as a market leader,” said LG Innotek Vice President Kang Min-seok.

CAMBRIDGE, UK – Underlying the hype for SiC (silicon carbide) and the future potential of GaN (gallium nitride) for EV power electronics, challenges remain for both technologies. While OEMs, tier-one suppliers, and market analysts generally agree that SiC and GaN will eventually share the market with incumbent Si technologies, the exact roadmap and time scale remain uncertain.

A development in its relative infancy that IDTechEx expects to boost overall performance, volume capabilities, and cost, are engineered substrates. IDTechEx’s report, “Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles 2025-2035: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts”, assesses the potential upsides and challenges to using engineered substrates for EV power electronics, including scalability, production volumes, and performance.

Substrates are traditionally thin discs of monocrystalline semiconductor material on which devices, such as MOSFETs and IGBTs, are grown. Since the epitaxial growth of the semiconductor is built on this base, ideally, the substrate is the same crystal as that of epitaxy (homoepitaxy), e.g., Si substrate for Si devices, etc. For Si MOSFETs and IGBTs, used in power electronics in automotive modules, such as the onboard charger, traction inverter, and DC-DC converter, the obvious choice is Si substrates. Global suppliers include SUMCO, Shin-Etsu, and GlobalWafers, with the bottom line being that the technology is mature, reliable, and cost-effective.

Boosting SiC MOSFET volumes with engineered substrates

The SiC wafer market has only recently started to globalize, with approximately 75% of SiC wafers being produced in the US as of 2023. With companies such as Wolfspeed and STMicroelectronics expanding into Europe and China, the emergence of other SiC wafer companies, and the transition from 150mm to 200mm substrates, the market is slated to become more competitive, driving costs down.

In parallel to these developments, companies are creating engineered substrates for SiC power devices. Generally, these leverage silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technologies and consist of a polycrystalline SiC layer bonded to a thin layer of monocrystalline SiC (a SiC wafer is typically wholly monocrystalline SiC). Companies leveraging some variant of this technology include Soitec, which has previously announced collaborations with X-FAB and STMicroelectronics, and Sicoxs (a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining), which currently markets 6-inch engineered SiC substrates and expects mass production in the fiscal year 2025.

With the globalization of the SiC substrate market and an increasing number of players, automotive OEMs are seeking large volumes of SiC MOSFETs to create efficient powertrains, which can increase the range of a vehicle by 7% compared to Si IGBTs. In terms of volume and cost, engineered substrates have advantages and can result in production volumes an order of magnitude greater than without engineered substrates using the same amount of monocrystalline SiC. To create engineered substrates, a mechanically strong polycrystalline SiC wafer is prepared, with steps including grinding and polishing to get it flat, from which a very thin layer of monocrystalline SiC substrate is strongly bonded to the polycrystalline wafer. After processing, activation, and inspection, the engineered substrate is ready, and the rest of the monocrystalline wafer will be reused to manufacture more engineered substrates.

This results in reduced costs, with SiC substrates taking up to 50% of a total device’s cost and increased volume, with one monocrystalline SiC wafer now able to produce 10-50 substrates. It has also been shown that engineered substrates have a lower ‘on resistance’ over the substrate area, resulting in less heat generated per unit area and the potential for a greater number of chips produced per substrate.

While engineered SiC substrates show potential, it will still take a couple of years for them to be in mass production, and questions remain over the main form of commercialization for them. For example, companies could license out the bonding process, partner with foundries or device companies to produce substrates at scale or loan out the necessary equipment. Design cycles and lead times in the automotive industry are notoriously long, spanning multiple years. In addition, high requirements and extensive testing are needed to qualify these processes to make devices for EVs.

Engineered substrates to make GaN viable in traction inverters

Since SiC is already used in EV power electronics, the mass commercialization of engineered substrates would help accelerate that development. In the case of GaN, multiple companies, such as Vitesco and VisIC Technologies, are looking to release high-voltage automotive GaN products, but the obstacles are slightly different. IDTechEx is aware of only one company, Odyssey Semiconductor, that produces bulk GaN substrates for GaN devices. In May 2024, it was acquired by Power Integrations, but it remains to be seen whether GaN substrates can be manufactured reliably and cost-effectively.

Historically, silicon substrates have been used to grow GaN devices (heteroepitaxy), and almost every device on the market uses silicon substrates. Since silicon substrates are already in mass production for silicon-based devices, their use for GaN transistors seems like a no-brainer. Buffer layers manage the strain and lattice mismatch between the epitaxial GaN and Si substrate, improving robustness. However, GaN can still only be grown in thin layers on Si substrates, resulting in greater defectivity than homoepitaxial GaN and voltage-limited lateral GaN devices.

For GaN to be used in the traction inverter, devices need to be capable of sustaining high voltages and power for extended periods, which is where current GaN technologies fall short. Alternatives include GaN-on-sapphire and GaN-on-SiC, which can yield higher voltage devices but are not compatible with CMOS processes, are expensive and have other issues with handling and thermal performance. Engineered GaN substrates mitigate these issues by creating a substrate that minimizes lattice mismatch and aligns the thermal expansion coefficient with that of GaN to produce thicker epitaxial layers of GaN for vertical devices going beyond 1200V. This is the approach taken by the fabless company Qromis, with its QST (Qromis Substrate Technology). By matching the substrate's physical properties with GaN, devices will have low defectivity and minimize breakages. Furthermore, while current GaN devices are grown on 150mm Si substrates, engineered substrates are scalable, future-proofing GaN to be grown on 200mm and eventually 300mm substrates. This will, in time, increase production volumes and decrease the cost per device.

With GaN substrates currently being prohibitively expensive, the next best thing is to manufacture something as similar as possible to GaN, which is what engineered substrates aim to do. Si substrates are cost-effective with guaranteed large volumes but struggle to meet the demands of high-voltage power electronics using current technology. Alternative substrates such as SiC and sapphire come with other drawbacks, therefore engineered substrates could be a key technology in enabling GaN to enter the EV power electronics market. However, IDTechEx is not aware of any current adoption plans from automotive OEMs or tier-one suppliers.

To summarize, engineered substrates will open the path to vertical GaN devices and can make devices reliable, more cost-effective, scalable, and power-dense. IDTechEx conducts further analysis on engineered substrates in their “Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles 2025-2035: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts” report and compares its impact to other developments in EV power electronics, such as integrated power electronics and 3-level inverters.

SAN DIEGO – Altium LLC, a global leader in software and solutions for the electronics industry, and Mouser Electronics, a global authorized distributor of semiconductors and electronic components, are excited to announce a strategic partnership aimed at advancing electronics education and careers worldwide. This collaboration seeks to empower the next generation of electronics engineers by providing equal access to state-of-the-art design tools and resources, thereby nurturing a community of innovators poised to shape the future.

The Altium Educator Center, a hub for innovative teaching and learning in electronics design and PCB development, along with the Altium Student Lab, offers a comprehensive program designed to prepare university students with industry-ready skills. This program equips educators with essential tools and resources to teach professional electronics design, ensuring students receive hands-on PCB design experience and a solid introduction to electronics.

“Our mission is to provide college-level curriculum and professional tools that introduce students to the art, science, and technology of printed circuit board design,” states Rea Callender, Vice President of Education at Altium. “We are excited to expand our curriculum this school year with a joint goal of bringing real skills to India and other emerging markets. By teaming up with Mouser, we aim to enhance the educational experience and provide students with the most current resources and industry insights.”

Mouser, renowned for its industry expertise and extensive range of electronic components, enriches this partnership with their educational materials. These resources include real-world case studies, practical demonstrations, and application examples, providing learners with the latest information, trends, and technologies. This integration ensures that students and professionals alike develop a holistic understanding of electronic design principles and practices, preparing them to tackle real-world challenges effectively.

“We are thrilled to partner with Altium in this important initiative,” said Glenn Smith, President and CEO of Mouser Electronics. “Our goal is to equip the engineers of tomorrow with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed in an ever-evolving industry. By combining our extensive range of components and educational resources with Altium’s innovative design software, we can offer a comprehensive learning experience that bridges the gap between education and industry.”

Together, Altium and Mouser are committed to fostering innovation and excellence in electronics design education, paving the way for a new generation of skilled engineers and designers.

EL DORADO HILLS, CA – As part of an effort to demonstrate Occam’s superiority over conventional assemblies, Eagle Circuits, Dallas TX, has been selected to build the first set of Occam test assemblies. These assemblies will be subjected to a battery of reliability and environmental tests in order to establish Occam’s viability and superiority over incumbent methodologies. This project is being funded by the DOD Executive Agent in cooperation with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane.

“Occam component assemblies provide a giant leap forward for U.S. manufacturing,” said Ray Rasmussen, Occam managing partner. “Using existing equipment, fabricators and their EMS partners are able to construct Occam assemblies today. Once companies give Occam a spin, they will begin to see the possibilities.” Eagle CEO, Nilesh Naik added, “in going through this process we began to see, what Ray calls, the Occam Opportunity for Eagle and the industry. The possibilities are almost endless. Instead of driving the industry to more and more complex configurations, Occam simplifies the process, allowing us to do much more with a lot less.”

Occam’s solderless methodology lowers cost while greatly improving reliability. Occam addresses many of the stated concerns from DOD regarding the reliability of electronic assemblies as well as a world-leading path forward for the domestic industry. Occam is home- grown, U.S. based, highly reliable, with thermal management, EMI/ESD, security built in. Occam greatly reduces the need for UHDI giving the industry a pathway to achieve world leading performance without the complexity.