II-VI, SemiSouth enter SiC epi foundry business

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- II-VI Inc. and SemiSouth Laboratories Inc. today (Oct. 7, 2003) joined forces and entered the merchant foundry business for silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxial wafers.

The effort will combine SiC substrate production capabilities at II-VI with advanced epitaxy reactors at SemiSouth. The technology is geared for ultra-high power devices, next-generation radar, wireless, and satellite communications systems.

These epitaxial wafers are designed for fabrication of ultra-high power transistors and rectifiers, which are key building blocks for DC-DC converters, high-power density and high-frequency power electronics, and high-frequency radar transmitters.

The II-VI/SemiSouth team will begin sampling 2-in. diameter SiC epitaxy wafers with structures up to 20-um thick, with a wide range (5e15 to 1e19 cm-3) of n- and p-type doping available to meet customer needs.

The technology is gained support within the U.S. government. Since July 2000, SemiSouth and II-VI have received numerous major programs from AFRL, Title III, MDA, Navy EOC and ONR, with a combined total of more than $10 million.

"We believe that close collaboration with SemiSouth has enabled both companies to make rapid progress in technology development and will ultimately lead to a lower cost of manufacturing," said Thomas Anderson, general manager of the Wide Band Gap Materials Group at II-VI, in a statement. The Wide Bandgap Materials Group has two facilities located in Pine Brook, N.J. and Saxonburg, Pa.

"The II-VI / SemiSouth team has made significant progress in developing this new epitaxial wafer technology," said Jeff Casady, president and CTO of SemiSouth, based in Starkville, in a statement. "This joint development program is helping us develop our merchant epitaxy business, as well as speed up epitaxy technology development," he said.