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X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE is building on its expertise in gallium nitride (GaN) processing technology for high-power applications by introducing GaN-on-Si foundry services for dMode devices as part of its XG035 technology platform. The move further leverages X-FAB’s advantage as a pure-play foundry that now offers a set of processing technologies for GaN and other WBG materials – including SiC – to help fabless semiconductor companies bring their designs to life.
X-FAB provides the GaN-on-Si technology from its state-of-the-art 8-inch fab in Dresden, one of six production facilities operated by the company worldwide. The Dresden fab hosts a wide range of specialized processing equipment, measurement tools and technologies that are optimized for GaN development and production, together with analog CMOS, in a stable, trusted, automotive-qualified fab environment. Tools on site have been optimized to handle the thicker GaN-on-Si wafers required by customers in sectors such as automotive, data center, industrial, renewable energy, medical, and others.
Thanks to strong high-voltage GaN expertise over several years, the company’s in-house expertise now extends to GaN-on-Si foundry services for dMode devices following the recent release of its XG035 dMode technology as an open foundry platform. The process includes dMode HEMT transistors (scalable from 100V to 650V), often used in power conversion applications. In addition, X-FAB offers customer-specific GaN technologies including dMode, eMode HEMTs as well as Schottky Barrier Diodes, which are popular for high-frequency rectification, power supply, and solar panel applications, among others.
Global demand is growing for charging applications, electric vehicles, advanced energy management systems and more powerful data centers. Regarding the latter, AI training and deployment is driving the need for more computational resources, which translates into higher power demand and more efficient power delivery and conversion.
GaN-on-Si technology is a very promising semiconductor process achieving high-frequency switching and low RDS (resistance between drain and source terminals) in the ‘on’ state. With its small footprint and high voltage capability, GaN-on-Si completes X-FAB’s offer for WBG chip processes enabling customers to design products that improve energy efficiency from the grid down to the car battery or GPU level.
“Thanks to our 30+ years of experience in automotive CMOS technologies – including 350nm CMOS, shared tool sets, and shared BEOL – our GaN offering comes with built-in quality and a significantly lower barrier to entry,” explains Michael Woittennek, CEO of X-FAB Dresden. “Having developed customer-specific technologies over many years, we’re now opening up our XG035 dMode technology for general prototyping projects at our Dresden fab – in the heart of Silicon Saxony. The flexibility of our 350nm toolset also enables us to quickly scale to volume production, giving customers a fast and reliable path to market.”
“As the GaN supplier landscape evolves, X-FAB is stepping up as a dedicated GaN foundry partner,” added Luigi Di Capua, VP Product Marketing. “Our 8-inch GaN-on-Si platform helps customers secure their supply chain and scale their designs with confidence.”
A PDK that eases the design process for customers and achieves faster on-boarding is available. In addition, a public MPW shuttle service will be available from Q4 2025, allowing multiple customers to share a single silicon wafer for chip fabrication. These steps further lower the barrier to entry for prototyping and small-volume production.Original – X-FAB Silicon Foundries
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IQE plc, the leading global supplier of compound semiconductor wafer products and advanced material solutions, and X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE announced a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to create a European-based GaN Power device platform solution.
With an initial two-year scope of work, IQE and X-FAB will collaborate to develop a 650V GaN device. The agreement will leverage IQE’s GaN epitaxy design and process expertise, along with X-FAB’s proven technology development and device fabrication capabilities to offer an optimized technology-substrate combination for automotive, data center and consumer applications.
This collaboration will provide fabless semiconductor companies with a leading-edge, off-the-shelf GaN platform accelerating their innovation cycles and time-to-market. The technology will also serve as a foundation for future product development, extending beyond 650V to address the growing market demand for Power Electronics.
Jutta Meier, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of IQE, comments: “We are excited to join forces with X-FAB to develop a world-class GaN power foundry solution in Europe, providing outsourced optionality for our fabless customers. Building on our GaN epitaxy expertise and recent investment in additional GaN reactor capacity, this agreement aligns with our GaN diversification strategy, expands our customer reach, and accelerates time-to-market for GaN power applications.”
“By combining our long-standing expertise in GaN device fabrication and design enablement with IQE’s epitaxy leadership, we are creating a unique, turnkey GaN Power platform,” explains Jörg Doblaski, Chief Technology Officer at X-FAB. “In addition to our existing GaN technology, this collaboration provides a compelling alternative to existing supply chain models and strengthens Europe’s position in next-generation power semiconductor technology.”
Original – X-FAB Silicon Foundries
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X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE has launched XSICM03, its next-generation XbloX platform, advancing Silicon Carbide (SiC) process technology for power MOSFETs, delivering significantly reduced cell pitch, enabling increased die per wafer and improved on-state resistance without compromising reliability.
XbloX is X-FAB’s streamlined business process and technology platform designed to accelerate the development of advanced SiC MOSFET technology. It integrates qualified SiC process development blocks and modules for planar MOSFET production, simplifying the onboarding process and significantly reducing design risks and product development time.
By combining proven process modules with robust design rules, control plans, and FMEAs, XbloX enables faster prototyping, easier design evaluation, and shorter time to market. This approach gives customers a competitive edge, allowing designers to create a diverse product portfolio while achieving production timelines up to nine months faster than traditional development methods.
This next generation platform provides active area design cell size reduction while maintaining robust process controls, as well as leakage and breakdown device performance. The XSICM03 platform with robust design rules allows customers to create SiC planar MOSFETs with a cell pitch that is over 25% smaller than the previous generation.
This improvement allows for up to a 30% increase in die per wafer compared to the previous generation. Leveraging proven process blocks, the platform ensures exceptional gate oxide reliability and device robustness. The enriched PCM library and enhanced design support allow for fast customer tape-out, resulting in faster product development.
Rico Tillner, CEO, X-FAB Texas explains: “With its streamlined approach, our next-generation process platform addresses the increasing demand for high-performance SiC devices in automotive, industrial, and energy applications. We enable existing and new customers in creating application-optimized product portfolios through accelerated prototyping and design evaluation, significantly reducing time to market.”
The next generation platform XSICM03 is now available for early access.
Original – X-FAB Silicon Foundries
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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 easy access to the SmartSiC™ substrate through a joint supply chain consignment model.
X-FAB is the pioneer and leader of the foundry model in the fast-growing SiC market. Silicon carbide (SiC) is a disruptive compound semiconductor material with intrinsic properties providing superior performance and efficiency over silicon in power applications.
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, significantly reducing cost and related CO2 emissions.In this fast-growing market, Soitec is ramping production of SmartSiC™ substrates at its new plant of Bernin, near Grenoble (France). X-FAB is increasing production capacity for SiC devices at the Lubbock plant. The use of the SmartSiC™ substrate enables X-FAB’s customers to design smaller devices, resulting in efficiency improvements through an increased number of dies per wafer. The benefit of reduced CO2 emissions from the substrate manufacturing process will also contribute to X-FAB’s initiative to reduce its overall carbon footprint.
Sophie Le-Guyadec VP Procurement of X-FAB, states: “As the leading SiC foundry, we want to provide our customers the full range of opportunities to design innovative and robust SiC devices for electric vehicles, renewable power and industrial applications. To offer the most advanced silicon carbide processes and manufacturing capabilities, we jointly agreed to provide our customers easy access to Soitec’s innovative SmartSiC™ via a consignment model.”
Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, Soitec Executive Vice President Automotive and Industry comments: “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.”Original – X-FAB
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X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE, the leading analog/mixed-signal and specialty foundry, has updated its XP018 high-voltage CMOS semiconductor fabrication platform with new 40V and 60V high-voltage primitive devices, which feature an extended SOA for improved operational robustness.
These 2nd generation high-voltage primitive devices exhibit up to a 50% reduction in RDSon figures compared to the previous version. This offers an alternative which is better positioned to address certain key applications – particularly where devices’ footprints need to be reduced and unit costs minimized.
The XP018 platform is a modular 180nm high-voltage EPI technology solution, based on a low mask count 5V single-gate core module. It supports an extended temperature range of -40 to 175°C and offers a wide range of optional devices and modules, including high-gain bipolar devices, standard and high-capacitance MIM capacitors, multi-threshold (Vt) options, Schottky diodes, and depletion devices.
The platform is supported by high-reliability automotive NVM solutions, such as embedded Flash, EEPROM, and OTP, making it specifically designed for cost-sensitive and robust automotive, industrial, and medical applications.
In addition to the new 40V/60V devices, the platform has been enhanced by the inclusion of 5.3V Zener diodes. The new low leakage Zener diode is designed to effectively protect the gate oxide in critical applications, such as Wide Bandgap gate driver applications. Furthermore, there are also new isolated drain high-voltage devices up to 24V and a new 1.8 V medium Vt option on offer.
Tilman Metzger, Product Line Manager for High-Voltage at X-FAB, comments: “With this update of our XP018 platform we are demonstrating X-FAB’s commitment to enhancing established technologies. XP018 has been in production for more than a decade and still sees widespread adoption for new designs from our focus market segments: automotive, industrial and medical. The new competitive high-voltage devices and updates will enable our customers to implement more innovative and cost-effective products. Designers utilizing the new XP018 primitive devices have access to comprehensive PDK support across major EDA platforms like Cadence, Siemens EDA, Synopsys, ensuring seamless integration and optimization for a range of applications.”
A new medium Vt standard cell library is scheduled to be released in Q3 2024. Further details on the XP018 platform can be accessed by going to: www.xfab.com/technology/high-voltage
Original – X-FAB Silicon Foundries
