Semiconductor today

Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA — which makes silicon carbide (SiC) materials and power semiconductor devices — has introduced its new Gen 4 technology platform, which is said to enable design rooted in durability and efficiency, while reducing system cost and development time. Engineered to simplify switching behaviors and design challenges commonly experienced in high-power designs, Gen 4 charts a long-term roadmap across Wolfspeed’s product categories, including power modules, discrete components, and bare die products. These products are currently available in the 750V, 1200V and 2300V classes...

The UK’s North East advanced material electronics industry is projected to contribute nearly £900m to the UK economy over the next five years, according to a new report by Urban Foresight on behalf of Business Durham and the Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult. The report identifies ‘significant growth potential’ in the sector, which is already providing many jobs and contributing to the UK economy...

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) module maker First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA has established the Endowed Professorship in Critical Energy Materials in the materials science and engineering department at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T). The decision reflects the strategic alignment between the two organizations, which have collaborated on critical minerals, particularly tellurium, for the past decade...

At Photonics West 2025 in Santa Clara, CA, USA (25–30 January), chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-based synthetic diamond materials firm Element Six of Oxford, UK (E6, part of the De Beers Group) is launching an innovative Cu-diamond product, a copper-plated diamond composite material that has high thermal and electrical conductivity. Designed to address the increasingly critical thermal management challenges in advanced semiconductor devices, the cost-effective solution is said to enable greater performance and reliability for applications such as AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and gallium arsenide (GaN) RF devices...

SemiQ Inc of Lake Forest, CA, USA — which designs, develops and manufactures silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors and 150mm SiC epitaxial wafers for high-voltage applications — has announced a family of 1700V SiC MOSFETs designed to meet the needs of medium-voltage high-power conversion applications, such as photovoltaic and wind inverters, energy storage, electric vehicle (EV) and road-side charging, uninterruptable power supplies, and induction heating/welding...

Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA — which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits for power management applications — has launched the EPC91104, a high-performance 3-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motor drive inverter reference design. The design is said to be suitable for powering compact, precision motors in humanoid robots, such as those used for wrist, finger and toe movements...

Lynred of Grenoble, France — which designs and makes infrared (IR) sensors for aerospace, defense and commercial applications — has launched Eyesential SW, its latest VGA-format shortwave infrared (SWIR) sensor for machine vision. Designed to offer the ideal cost-performance ratio for visible-like imaging to address specific performance needs in machine vision, Eyesential SW is said to have the performance and features sought by industry but at half the price of comparable IR sensors on the market. It also includes specific functions for spectroscopy applications, such as spectral line selection/deselection...

Vertically integrated photonics product maker Thorlabs Inc of Newton, NJ, USA has acquired Praevium Research Inc of Goleta, CA, USA, which was founded by Dr Vijay Jayaraman in 2001 and develops high-speed tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The two firms have been working together since 2008, when Praevium became a member of Thorlabs’ Strategic Partner Program...

Under the CHIPS Incentives Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication Facilities, the US Department of Commerce has finalized three separate awards of direct funding: up to $32m for Corning, up to $18m for Edwards Vacuum, and up to $93m for Infinera...

InnoScience (Suzhou) Technology Holding Co Ltd and its subsidiary InnoScience (Suzhou) Semiconductor Co Ltd have filed complaints regarding patent number 202311774650.7s and 202211387983.X with the Intermediate People’s Court of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, against Infineon Technologies (China) Co Ltd, its subsidiary Infineon Technologies (Wuxi) Co Ltd, and Suzhou Chipswork Electronics Technologies Co Ltd...

For its fiscal second-quarter 2025 (ended 29 November 2024), semiconductor production test and reliability qualification equipment supplier Aehr Test Systems of Fremont, CA, USA has reported revenue of $13.5m, up slightly from $13.1m last quarter but down on $21.4m a year ago. While Services revenue has rebounded from $0.97m last quarter to $1.47m, Product revenue has fallen further, from $19.8m a year ago and $12.2m last quarter to $12m...

Guerrilla RF Inc (GRF) of Greensboro, NC, USA — which develops and manufactures radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for wireless applications — has formally released the GRF0020D and GRF0030D, the first in a new class of GaN-on-SiC HEMT power amplifiers being developed by the company...

Multi-national industrial and energy company METLEN Energy & Metals of Athens, Greece – which operates the only vertically integrated bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium production unit in the European Union (EU) with privately owned port facilities – says that the Metallurgy Committee, in a joint session with the Capital Allocation Committee, has made the final investment decision (FID) to proceed with implementing a new €295.5m plan for the production of bauxite, alumina and gallium...

The Vermont Gallium Nitride (V-GaN) Tech Hub — a consortium led by the University of Vermont (UVM) and including GlobalFoundries and the State of Vermont — has been awarded $23.7m in federal funding from the US Economic Development Administration (EDA)...

Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA — which makes silicon carbide (SiC) materials and power semiconductor devices — has completed the offering of shares of its common stock under its previously announced ‘at the market’ (ATM) offering program pursuant to a shelf registration statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and a prospectus supplement dated 9 December...

Intelligent power and sensing technology firm onsemi of Scottsdale, AZ, USA has completed its acquisition of the silicon carbide junction field-effect transistor (SiC JFET) technology business, including the United Silicon Carbide subsidiary, of Qorvo Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA (which provides core technologies and RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure and defense applications) for $115m in cash...

Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA — which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits for power management applications — has introduced the EPC91200, a fully configured motor drive inverter reference design that is said to deliver exceptional performance and flexibility for a variety of industrial and battery-powered applications...

MACOM Technology Solutions Inc of Lowell, MA, USA (which designs and makes RF, microwave, analog and mixed-signal and optical semiconductor technologies) has announced a long-term capital investment plan comprising up to $345m over five years to modernize its wafer fabrication facilities in Lowell, Massachusetts, and Durham, North Carolina, creating up to 350 manufacturing jobs and nearly 60 construction jobs across both states...

Epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA has revised its guidance for fourth-quarter 2024 revenue from $165–185m (forecasted in early November) to $175–185m (growing from $173.9m a year ago)...

Shandong University has reported an enhancement-mode P-GaN/AlGaN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors (MIS-HEMTs) by combining thermal oxidation treatment of P-GaN with atomic layer deposition (OTALD) prior to gate metal deposition [Siheng Chen et al, IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 45, no. 12, pp2343–2346, December 2024, doi: 10.1109/LED.2024.3478819]. Compared with traditional devices, the device presented increased threshold voltage significantly from 1.8V to 7.1V, with improved gate breakdown voltage and off-state breakdown voltage of 26.9V and 1980V, respectively...