Photo: Ascatron

Acreo spins off new company Ascatron

Publicerad 2012-04-04

The RISE institute Acreo spins off the new company Ascatron. Based on the silicon carbide (SiC) technology developed at Acreo, Ascatron will specialise on the manufacturing of energy efficient SiC semiconductors. Target customers are suppliers of power devices and modules to the power electronic industry.

The usage of SiC electronics is increasing the efficiency in power electronics which minimizes electricity conversion losses. The implementation of SiC semiconductors also enables very compact and light power systems. In addition, SiC semiconductors can be used for high temperature electronics and sensors, which will enable new applications beyond the possibilities of traditional semiconductor devices.

"Now is the right time to build up production capacity for SiC devices. The demand for our epi service has increased significantly and we have run our two R&D reactors at a maximum capacity over the last two years", says Mårten Armgarth, CEO at Acreo, and continues:

"The commercialization of our SiC process technology is in line with our mission, to transfer research results to industry. When a technology is mature enough and the market demand is identified, our strategy is to look at the possibilities to start a new company."

Pure play

Ascatron is the first independent "pure play" SiC foundry offering the complete fabrication service from device epitaxy to diced wafers.

"With our know-how in development of different types of SiC devices, Ascatron can optimize the fabrication process to the design and specifications required by the customer. We will focus on fast delivery of small series for market verification, followed by a production ramp-up in accordance with the customer needs", says Adolf Schöner, Manager of the SiC group at Acreo and co-founder of Ascatron.

Roadmap

Ascatron started to scale-up the SiC fabrication technology, developed at Acreo, during September 2011. In the beginning, Ascatron will use the established 4 inch wafer SiC process line at the Electrum Laboratory in Kista, Sweden. In the roadmap to serve the growing SiC industry, Ascatron plans to build up a dedicated large volume SiC device production fab, capable of handling more than 50,000 6 inch wafers per year.

Acreo will continue the R&D activities in the field of SiC-semiconductors, focusing on device and module design of energy efficient power electronics. To accelerate the implementation of efficient power electronics, Acreo will start the SiC Power Center; a platform for application-oriented R&D activities in a collaboration between industry, research institutes and universities.

For more information about power electronics based on silicon carbide, visit Acreo’s nanoelectronics site.