researchers from north carolina state university (raleigh, n.c.) have created a new manufacturing process, called presice, and chip design for silicon carbide (sic) power devices that efficiently regulates power in electronics, which will make it easier for companies to enter the sic market and develop new products.

silicon carbide devices, like the one shown here, are more efficient than their silicon counterparts. (north carolina state university)

according to a report on the nc state website, silicon carbide devices are more efficient than silicon-based devices, which have been the most popular for decades, and also switch at a higher frequency to allow for smaller and lighter electronics.

“up to this point, companies that have developed manufacturing processes for creating sic power devices have kept their processes proprietary – making it difficult for other companies to get into the field,” the article explained. “this has limited the participation of other companies and kept the cost of sic devices high.”

working with texas-based foundry x-fab to implement and qualify the process, researchers found that presice had “the high yield and tight statistical distribution of electrical properties for sic power devices necessary to make them attractive to industry.”

currently, sic devices cost five times as much as silicon devices, but the researchers are hopeful that this new manufacturing process will drop that to 1-1/2 times as much and that will increase the production, which will in turn reduce costs further.

the paper, “presice^tm: process engineered for manufacturing sic electronic-devices,” will be presented at the international conference on silicon carbide and related materials, being held sept. 17-22 in washington, d.c.

the work was supported by poweramerica, the department of energy-funded manufacturing innovation institute that focuses on boosting manufacturing of wide bandgap semiconductor-based power electronics.