When it comes to silicon carbide wafers, people may feel strange. But in the new energy vehicles and 5G communications that we are familiar with, it plays a vital role. The reason why 5G is fast is because it has a powerful 5G chip, and the silicon carbide chip is the ideal substrate for 5G chips. Hebei Tongguang Crystal Co., Ltd., located in Baoding High-tech Zone, is a strategic emerging enterprise engaged in the research and development, production and sales of the third generation of semiconductor materials silicon carbide single wafer. Carrying the policy of beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development, recently, relying on the research and development results of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the third generation of semiconductor material silicon carbide single crystal has achieved mass production in Baoding.
Independent research and development to activate China's "core" with innovation
A thin disc, 4 or 6 inches in diameter, about the size of a CD. In October 2019, at the international exhibition site of the silicon carbide semiconductor industry in Japan, Tongguang Crystal stunningly presented the silicon carbide single crystal series of products, pushing China's high-quality silicon carbide to the world, and making foreign counterparts praise it as the "Chinese dark horse" in the international silicon carbide field.
Tongguang Crystal was established in May 2012, relying on the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is the first high-tech enterprise in China to realize the mass production of the third generation of semiconductor material silicon carbide single crystal substrate. Currently, products include 4-inch, 6-inch high-purity semi-insulated and conductive silicon carbide single crystal substrate materials.
The third generation of semiconductor materials represented by silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are called wide bandgap semiconductors because their bandgap width is greater than 2.2 eV. The structure of the wide bandgap determines that the third generation of semiconductor materials will have more excellent performance in the working environment of high temperature, high frequency and high power, and at the same time, these performance characteristics make the third generation of semiconductor materials not only have better performance in the stock market dominated by traditional silicon-based semiconductors, but also become an irreplaceable choice for downstream application manufacturers in some emerging fields such as new energy vehicles and high-voltage fast charging.
Core technology must be based on independent innovation.
Since its establishment in 2012, Tongguang Crystal has overcome key core technologies such as synthesis of high-purity silicon carbide raw materials, defect control, impurity content, product excellence rate, etc., closely followed the national innovation-driven development, connected with major national and provincial projects, and continued to gather talents and platform construction.
Whether it is the 4-inch silicon carbide wafer independently developed in 2014 and mass production the following year, or the 6-inch high-purity semi-insulated silicon carbide single crystal currently used in the RF field such as 5G infrastructure, the technical indicators have reached the international advanced level and achieved large-scale production.
In addition, today, it has established a stable cooperative relationship with the research institute of China Electronics Technology Group, a state-owned chip manufacturing enterprise, and applied high-quality silicon carbide single crystal substrates to China's 5G infrastructure construction, breaking industry barriers, filling the gap in the domestic market, and contributing new strength to China's third-generation semiconductor industry.
Build a platform for Accelerated Aggregation of Elements of Jingbao Science and Technology Innovation
"The company has established close ties with the academician team in scientific research. There is an academician workstation, a postdoctoral mobile station and an academician as a mentor, and also cooperates with the academician team to conduct project research through the establishment of a joint research and development center. Zheng Qingchao, chairman of Tongguang Crystal, told reporters that in recent years, Tongguang Crystal has based on the combination of production, education and research, seized the new opportunities for the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and built a series of high-end scientific research and innovation platforms.
According to reports, in 2017, the third-generation semiconductor material testing platform jointly initiated by Tongguang Crystal and the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, Peking University and Tsinghua University landed in Baoding, filling the gap of the professional testing platform for new materials in Hebei Province. The platform is built with the innovation mode of production, education and research, spanning Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, actively docking Xiong'an, and providing technical support and services for the stable and orderly development of the third-generation semiconductor industry.
Among them, in cooperation with the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the "SiC Joint Laboratory for Single Crystal Materials and Applied Research" and the "Joint Research and Development Center for Third-Generation Semiconductor Materials" have become an important achievement transformation base of the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Baoding High-tech Zone, and the scientific research team led by academicians such as Li Shushen, Xia Jianbai and Zheng Houzhi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been introduced.
At the same time, the company also jointly established the "China Electric Valley Third Generation Semiconductor Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance" with scientific research institutes and upstream and downstream enterprises.
In the future, the application market can be expected to reach a scale of 17 billion yuan
"A generation of materials and devices, a generation of devices and a generation of applications", the rise of emerging materials is an inevitable path for the development of the semiconductor industry. Zheng Qingchao told reporters that the company realized as early as the start-up period that the progress of semiconductor materials has a direct and far-reaching impact on downstream applications.
Since its inception in 2012, Tongguang Crystal has continuously polished and expanded its production capacity to provide downstream manufacturers with SiC single crystal substrate materials with higher yield, better performance parameters and lower cost. At present, the company has completed the independent construction of 200 single crystal growth furnaces. In order to meet the demand for power semiconductor devices, the company plans to start production of 600 growth furnaces this year, and the production capacity is expected to reach 100,000 units in April 2022.
It is understood that with the continuous optimization of the production technology of the third generation of domestic semiconductor materials, the improvement of quality control, and the coordinated development of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, it is expected that the cost of silicon carbide single crystal substrate will drop to 2 times that of the Si substrate in 2025, when the domestic market will usher in the outbreak period of the application of the third generation of semiconductor materials, and the application market will reach a scale of 17 billion yuan, of which most applications will focus on power devices. Taking electric vehicles as an example, for every 3-5 electric vehicles produced, it is necessary to consume a chip made of 6-inch silicon carbide wafers, and Tesla alone needs 250,000-500,000 silicon carbide substrates per year. By 2025, the Chinese market only needs more than one million silicon carbide substrates in the field of electric vehicles, and the future development space is huge, and the development of the entire third-generation semiconductor industry will effectively promote the progress of global scientific and technological civilization.
At the same time, new infrastructure, including 5G, is becoming an important growth point of the new economy. As the starting point of the 5G industry chain, the market demand for silicon carbide single crystal substrates will also increase significantly. Joint development, complementary advantages, benefit sharing, and optical crystals are taking silicon carbide wafers from raw material synthesis, single crystal growth, substrate processing, to quality testing of the entire production process of the complete technical system, out of China's new speed.
"In promoting the collaborative innovation of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, we have accelerated the transformation and incubation of economic and technological achievements to Hebei to provide strong scientific and technological support for the high-quality development of Hebei." Long Fenxing, director of the Science and Technology Department of Hebei Province, said that the turnover of technology contracts absorbed by Beijing and Tianjin in Hebei increased from 10.5 billion yuan in 2016 to 20.9 billion yuan in 2020, with a total of more than 80 billion yuan in the past three years. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Hebei will accelerate the construction of a new industrial system and spawn new manufacturing methods, providing strong support for building a "strong manufacturing province" and a beautiful Hebei.