Semiconductor today

The power module equipped with Japan-based ROHM Co Ltd’s fourth-generation silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET bare chip has been adopted in the traction inverter of Toyota Motor Corp’s new bZ5 crossover-type battery electric vehicle (BEV) for the Chinese market...

Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e) in The Netherlands is establishing a new research institute dedicated to semiconductors, quantum, photonics, and the development of high-tech systems and chips of the future...

Renesas Electronics Corp of Tokyo, Japan says that, as a resuts of entering into a restructuring support agreement with Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA and its principal creditors for the financial restructuring of Wolfspeed, it hence expects to record a financial loss...

As part of its efforts to strengthen its capital structure, Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA — which makes silicon carbide (SiC) materials and power semiconductor devices — has entered into a restructuring support agreement (RSA) with key lenders, including (i) holders of more than 97% of its senior secured notes, (ii) Renesas Electronics Corp’s US subsidiary, and (iii) convertible debtholders holding more than 67% of the outstanding convertible notes. The transactions envisioned by the RSA are expected to reduce the firm’s overall debt by about 70% ($4.6bn) and to reduce annual total cash interest payments by about 60%..

Materials innovation company Diamond Technologies Inc (DTI) of Hudson, MA, USA (which is developing and commercializing diamond-based solutions for semiconductors, aerospace, defense, optics and industrial applications) has acquired the complete asset portfolio of AKHAN Semiconductor Inc of Gurnee, Lake County, IL, USA (which was founded in 2013 and specializes in the fabrication and application of synthetic, lab-grown, electronics-grade diamond materials)...

Aeluma Inc of Goleta, CA, USA — which develops compound semiconductor materials on large-diameter substrates — has announced a contract with the US Navy that could accelerate development of high-speed photodetectors for government and commercial applications...

Tokyo-based Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd, in collaboration with Japan-based NTT Innovative Devices Corp, has established mass-production technology for high-power terahertz devices using its proprietary crystal film bonding (CFB) technology for heterogeneous material bonding to bond indium phosphide (InP)-based uni-traveling carrier photodiodes (UTC-PD) (a PiN junction photodiode that selectively uses electrons as active carriers) onto silicon carbide (SiC) with what are claimed to be excellent heat dissipation characteristics for improved bonding yields. UTC-PDs could operate faster and with much wider output linearity simply by excluding the hole transport contribution to the diode operation...

Chicago-based fabless firm Tagore Technology Inc — which was founded in 2011 and has design centers in Arlington Heights, IL, USA and Kolkata, India developing gallium nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) technology for RF and power management applications — has launched the TSL8028N, a compact, high-performance receiver front-end module tailored for demanding wireless infrastructure and radar applications operating in the 2–5GHz frequency range...

Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA – which designs and makes lightweight, flexible copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules that can be integrated into consumer products, off-grid applications and aerospace applications – has signed a master services agreement with NOVI Space Inc, a Virginia-based space AI infrastructure & compute company that develops and operates AI-powered satellites with their TRL-9 edge computing technology...

Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA says that its flexible thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) photovoltaic (PV) technology has reached record energy conversion efficiency of 15.7% (AM0) at production scale. The achievement aligns with the firm’s previously announced 2025 strategy, which aimed to continue improving on its thin-film PV’s material quality, technological efficiency and production design optimization to increase the applicability of the technology in the space market...

Materials, networking and laser technology firm Coherent Corp of Saxonburg, PA, USA has launched the COMPACT EVOLUTION AC, a next-generation compact, air-cooled 500W diode laser system for polymer welding...

Process equipment maker Applied Materials Inc of Santa Clara, CA, USA and micro/nanotechnology R&D center CEA-Leti of Grenoble, France have announced the next phase of their longstanding collaboration to accelerate innovation in specialty semiconductors. Through an expansion of their joint lab, the organizations plan to develop materials engineering solutions to address emerging infrastructure challenges in AI data centers...

Using the Fiji G2 plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) system of epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA, the University of Michigan has reported the ALD of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) using di-tert-butyl disulfide (TBDS) as a replacement for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) (Chemistry of Materials vol 37, issue 4, 11 February 2025)...

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system maker Riber S.A. of Bezons, France has signed a three-year collaborative partnership with the Denmark-based Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Computing Programme (NQCP), a research initiative launched by the Novo Nordisk Foundation in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen...

Marktech Optoelectronics Inc of Latham, NY, USA, a vertically integrated designer and manufacturer of optoelectronics components and assemblies, has released its new high-efficiency 25µm-diameter resonant-cavity light-emitting diodes (RCLEDs) with a peak emission at 650nm, which it claims set a new benchmark for performance in precision optical targeting applications...

Hong Kong-based UGREEN (which provides charging accessories) has unveiled the Nexode 500W 6-Port GaN Desktop Fast Charger, which is claimed to be the first 500W gallium nitride (GaN) charger engineered to simultaneously charge six devices with unprecedented power. Combining groundbreaking charging power, intelligent safety systems, and near-universal compatibility, it is built to handle the high-performance demands of professionals, gaming setups, and tech-heavy households...

Materials, networking and laser technology firm Coherent Corp of Saxonburg, PA, USA has launched the SES18-880A-190-10, a high-power 880nm single-emitter laser diode on sub mount, designed specifically for high-efficiency, high-reliability pumping of diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) lasers...

Discrete semiconductor and passive electronic component maker Vishay Intertechnology Inc of Malvern, PA, USA has partnered with Wales Tech Week 2025, which is taking place at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Wales in Newport on 24–26 November...

Power semiconductor technology firm ROHM says that it is one of the key silicon providers supporting NVIDIA’s new 800V High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) architecture. This marks a pivotal shift in data-center design, enabling megawatt-scale AI factories that are more efficient, scalable, and sustainable...

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Electric Corporation says it has developed a compact 7GHz band gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifier module (PAM) with record-breaking power efficiency of 41%. The performance was verified in a demonstration using 5G-Advanced communication signals...