New Energy Vehicle "Best Soil", Leading Domestic IGBT Emergence

IGBT is the core device for energy conversion and transmission. Using IGBT for power conversion can improve the efficiency and quality of electricity use, and it is highly energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. At present, the traditional IGBT market has been occupied by European, American and Japanese international giants, and the emergence of new energy vehicles has special significance for the rise of domestic IGBTs.

According to statistics, in 2016, the global sales of electric vehicles reached 2 million, which consumed about 900 million U.S. dollars of IGBTs. The average cost of each car is about 450 U.S. dollars. It is the most expensive component of an electric car except batteries. Among them, about 770,000 hybrid vehicles and PHEVs, about 300 US dollars worth of IGBTs per vehicle, about 1.23 million pure electric vehicles, and an average of US$ 540 IGBTs per vehicle, while IGBTs for high-power pure electric buses are used. May exceed $1,000.

According to Zhang Kefeng, general manager of Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics product line, the emergence and rapid development of new energy vehicles have given domestic companies and international car companies the opportunity to compete on the same platform, and because of the special support of the Chinese government, In terms of policies and resources, domestic automobile enterprises have a more competitive advantage. The new policy requires that the proportion of new energy vehicles of local brands to be shipped must reach double digits in 2018, and that it requires year-by-year growth, which has created very good domestically produced IGBTs. Opportunity.

Yang Jiye, an R&D director of Huahong Hongli, also believes that new energy vehicles are both an urgent need for energy conservation and environmental protection and a breakthrough for the transformation and upgrading of China's auto industry. As the core device in the power and power system of new energy vehicles, IGBTs will have an excellent opportunity for development. According to data from third-party research institutions, the amount of pure electric vehicle (EV) semiconductor components is US$673, which is an increase of 127% compared to the US$297 used for traditional automotive semiconductors. Most of these new additions are power devices.

According to Yang Jiye, the State Council announced in its "Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan" that by 2020, the annual production capacity of China's pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles will reach 2 million, equivalent to 8 inches. IGBT wafers require 1 million wafers a year. Thanks to the development of new energy vehicles and their supporting facilities, it is expected that by 2020, China's IGBT sales will reach nearly 20 billion yuan. It can be seen that the development opportunities brought by new energy vehicles to domestic IGBTs are self-evident. However, at present, the domestic IGBT industrial chain construction is still not perfect, and the technology gap with the international giants is still relatively large.

Yang Jiye told reporters that China's power semiconductors and foreign IDM vendors need to be strengthened in equipment investment, there is still a gap in the device design, process technology, the supply chain is not perfect. The reasons are as follows: As a latecomer, domestic IGBTs lack the test of time to establish a brand effect; Second, the process of IGBT localization starts relatively late, and at that time, the market application prospects are not yet clear, and terminal application plan providers are promoting The willingness of localization of IGBT technology is not strong, and only a handful of old professional IGBT manufacturers have occupied this market. From the manufacturing level, Huahong HongLi field cut-off IGBT (FieldStop, FSIGBT) technical parameters comparable to the leading international companies, but want to fully improve the domestic IGBT strength, but also the upstream and downstream industry chain companies to fully participate in and work together.

“China's IGBTs still have a certain gap with international manufacturers in terms of equipment, materials, chip design and wafer manufacturing. The main process equipment and substrate wafers for domestic IGBT chips are also to be purchased from abroad, especially in the packaging of high-power modules. In terms of product power density, heat dissipation performance, long-term reliability, and module design innovation, the technology gap is still relatively large. However, in the post-blocking and testing process, due to the experience of the domestic sealing and testing plant for the international large-scale foundry, The technical gap between the roads is gradually narrowing,” said some respondents.

The reporter was informed that the most competitive production lines for IGBT products are 8-inch and 12-inch. At present, the world's most advanced is Infineon, which has mass-produced IGBT products in its 12-inch production line; currently, domestic 8-inch lines have achieved mass production of IGBT products. Zhuzhou China Automotive and Shanghai Huahong Hongli, and Silan Microelectronics invested hundreds of millions in the newly established 8-inch production line, and purchased high-energy ion implantation equipment, laser annealing equipment and thin-film Taiko equipment, which are specialized in IGBT product technology. In the next 3-5 years, we will vigorously develop and improve the IGBT product design and process development level.

On December 18, 2017, Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics and Xiamen Semiconductor Investment Group signed an investment cooperation agreement to build two 12-inch integrated circuit manufacturing lines with MEMS and power devices as their main products in Haishu District, Xiamen City. It will be completed and put into production within 2-3 years, which will promote the continuous improvement of IGBT product technology and technology.

In addition to the technology gap, IGBT core patents and high-end talents are almost monopolized by international companies such as Infineon and Mitsubishi. Zhang Kefeng said that the high-end R&D and high-end product designers of IGBT products are very few. The chip manufacturers that have already mass-produced domestically and their R&D personnel have grown up through years of trial and error, continuous learning and summary. To improve the lack of high-end talent, there are two things: First, starting from universities and IGBT companies, investing and training related personnel should be able to withstand the hone; there is also a shortcut to use high-paying or favorable policies to attract international giants. High-end technical talent, or the introduction and acquisition of their corporate team. For technical patents, on the one hand, it is necessary to rely on its own process to produce equipment. According to the requirements of application practice, there are innovations in some processes and design technologies; on the other hand, it is a patent to purchase foreign IGBT design and manufacturing technology, but this is difficult and costly. .

From the reporter's point of view, the late start of home-made IGBT development, lack of end-user power, lack of talents, and weak brand effect have all contributed to the gap between domestic and international manufacturers. However, in recent years, with the promotion of favorable policies and the emergence of new emerging energy markets such as new energy vehicles, high-speed rail, and wind power generation, the “spring” of domestically-made IGBTs will soon come.