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The power electronics sector is set to start a final stage of growth as it is expected to have an evaluated market value of USD 51.73 billion by 2025, reaching USD 67.42 billion by 2030. A steady CAGR of 5.4% stems from a steady increase in demand for energy efficiency, renewable integration, and semiconductor advanced technology.

The Growth Drivers:

The positive momentum of the market is born out of interlinked phenomena:

Clean Energy Imperative

As the world tries to go carbon-neutral, renewable energy systems, including solar photovoltaic and wind farms, go mainstream. Power electronics, hence, are used in these systems to enable efficient energy conversion, grid integration, and real-time management.

Electrification of Transport

With EVs and HEVs no longer considered niche, the demand is now rising for high-performance inverters, converters, and battery-management systems. The transition is fueled by policy, consumer interest, and vehicle-electrification technology advances.

Semiconductor Innovations

Wide-bandgap materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are reshaping design possibilities. These materials enable devices that are smaller, faster, more efficient, and capable of operating at higher temperatures making them invaluable for modern automotive, industrial, and renewable applications.

Smart Infrastructure and Connectivity

With the development of smart grids, connected mobility, and smart manufacturing, there is a greater demand for the precision operation of power. Power electronics underpin these systems to foster efficiency, safety, and interoperability.

Though on a positive trending path, the sector faces engineering challenges, chiefly in the design and packaging of SiC devices, which mandate careful thermal and structural management.

Market Segmentation Insights:

Automotive & Transportation: Fastest Growing Segment

This industry segment shall witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Vehicle electrification, growing ADAS features, integration of infotainment systems require advanced power electronics focusing on efficiency and reliability, which are only further underlined with the march toward autonomous and connected vehicles.

Power ICs: Market Leader

Power ICs will maintain their position as the largest share commanded due to their extensive uses in consumer electronics like smartphones, laptops, and tablets; industrial and automotive applications. They become vital for reducing energy loss, extending battery life, ensuring high performance, and reliability of systems.

Regional Insights:

Asia-Pacific region is considered to be the center of the global market and hence is projected to remain dominant. The key drivers behind its domination are:

Percentagewise: Strong power electronics manufacturing systems in China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in emerging economies such as India, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Generous government aids for the adoption of EVs and the deployment of renewable energy.

Asia Pacific then stands as a global supplier and a major consumer of power electronics, given the establishment of an industrial base and growing domestic demand.

Industry Panorama:

The market consists of well-established technology giants as well as specialized players. Major companies include Infineon Technologies AG, Texas Instruments Incorporated, ON Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, Analog Devices, Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Fuji Electric Co., Ltd., and Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.

Such firms intend to strengthen their market positions with product innovations, partnerships, acquisitions, and increased capacity. Investing heavily in R&D with special emphasis on SiC and GaN technologies, they are shaping the next generation of energy efficient systems.

Future Outlook:

Power electronics’ contribution to a cleaner, smarter, and more connected society will define the market by 2030. The industry is situated at the nexus of technological innovation and energy change, powering everything from electric vehicles to regulating renewable energy flows and supporting the gadgets we use on a daily basis.

In this situation, businesses that can expand production, overcome material constraints, and innovate for efficiency will not only prosper but also establish the standards for a sustainable electronics future.

The post Power Electronics Market Trends: SiC & GaN Technologies Reshape Industry Outlook appeared first on ELE Times.

A new inter-die gapfill tool is purpose-built to solve critical challenges in 3D stacking and high-density heterogeneous integration. VECTOR TEOS 3D provides ultra-thick, uniform inter-die gapfill by leveraging Lam Research’s proprietary bowed wafer handling approach and advancements in dielectric deposition.

Industry watchers describe it as a significant step for advanced packaging, as void-free, nanoscale gapfill could be crucial for reliable 3D stacking and chiplet integration in next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) semiconductor devices.

The semiconductor industry is turning to 3D advanced packaging to integrate multiple dies into chiplet architectures for AI, HPC, and gaming applications. These chiplet designs enhance processing speed and pack more compute into smaller form factors by bringing memory and processing closer, thereby optimizing electrical pathways.

However, as these chipsets scale taller and become more complex, they encounter a range of new manufacturing challenges. That spans from stress during processing—which can distort or bow a wafer’s shape—to cracks and voids in films that cause defects and lower yield. In other words, when chip designers scale devices vertically and horizontally, they require a dielectric gapfill that is thick enough to fill the spaces between stacked dies for structural, thermal, and mechanical integrity.

It’s interesting to note that progress in modern chips is traditionally measured by development of thinner and smaller structures. On the other hand, advanced packaging strays from this convention, seeking ways to make films thicker as they stack dies higher and higher. Here, thick wafers and their associated glass substrates respond differently to thermal cycles, contributing to bowing. And handling bowed wafers is notoriously difficult.

Inter-die gapfill tool

Enter VECTOR TEOS 3D (pronounced “TEE-oss”), Lam Research’s deposition tool specifically designed for advanced packaging to reliably deliver ultra-thick films—dielectric gapfill films up to 60-µm in thickness—and thus excel at processing thick wafers with high bowing characteristics. TEOS minimizes cracks and voids in thick dielectric gapfill films while handling high-bow wafers.

Figure 1 TEOS 3D provides high-quality, void-free thick dielectric film deposition for advanced packaging. Source: Lam Research

Film cracks and voids can damage finished dies, each worth tens of thousands of dollars. “VECTOR TEOS 3D deposits the industry’s thickest, void-free, inter-die gapfill films, customized to meet the challenging requirements of advanced die stacking integration schemes, even on ultra-stressed, high-bow wafers,” said Sesha Varadarajan, senior VP of the Global Products Group at Lam Research.

TEOS deposits specialized dielectric films of up to 60 microns thick between dies with nanoscale precision, though it provides scalability to deposit films greater than 100 microns. These films provide essential structural, thermal and mechanical support to prevent common packaging failures such as delamination.

Next, TEOS features Lam’s novel clamping technology and an optimal pedestal design, offering exceptional stability when processing thick wafers. That, in turn, facilitates uniform film deposition even when dealing with extreme wafer bow.

Finally, Lam’s quad station module (QSM) architecture features four distinct stations, enabling parallel processing and reducing bottlenecks. It leads to nearly 70% faster tool throughput compared to Lam’s previous generation of gapfill solutions. Moreover, the high throughput resulting from the modular design helps improve the cost of ownership up to 20%.

Figure 2 TEOS addresses a range of advanced packaging challenges. Source: Lam Research

Other key features of TEOS include a large chamber design, ringless wafer transfer, and integrated equipment intelligence.

Why it matters

Advanced packaging is now an essential part in the development of next-generation chips such as GPUs and HBM memory chips. The GPU/HBM stacks are growing more complex while packing in more transistors. Therefore, traditional solutions are increasingly falling short.

Advanced packaging requires extreme precision at every step of the chipmaking process, spanning from plating to etch. Lam claims that TEOS is the first solution for single-pass processing of crack-free films exceeding 30 microns in thickness. That significantly enhances yield and process time.

TEOS is now installed at leading logic and memory fabs around the world.

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• Understanding the Big Spend on Advanced Packaging Facilities

The post Inter-die gapfill tool claims advanced packaging breakthrough appeared first on EDN.

Pulled apart an old valve amp and was struck by how good the color-coded caps and resistors looked. Modern SMD boards just feel boring in comparison. Anyone else miss this aesthetic? submitted by /u/filthy_hammy [link] [comments]

Only two components, a esp32 board & 0.96 inch oled screen, blue is the 0.96 inch oled screen & black is the esp32 with USB-C submitted by /u/llo7d [link] [comments]

In this article, we examine two different methods of producing wideband FM signals. Both use crystal oscillators to provide improved frequency stability.