Laser-Based Silicon Carbide Wafer Manufacturing for Next-Generation High-Efficiency Power Electronics

Silicon carbide power electronics represent a next-generation technology that has demon-strated substantial overall energy efficiency improvements across a broad range of products with higher voltage and higher-frequency operation in more compact forms. They have been used in notable, high-end applications including electric vehicles, industrial, electrified rail, and wind-energy power electronics, as well as electric grid transmission and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The purpose of this project was to scale up and commercialize a novel laser-based manufacturing technology for the fabrication of silicon carbide wafers, which are the fundamental building blocks upon which silicon carbide power electronics are built. An initial proof-of-concept prototype was successfully taken and built out into a complete produc-tion line that demonstrated low-rate initial production. This project has demonstrated that the technology has the potential for zero material loss and throughput on the order of minutes, per wafer. This would result in dramatic cost reductions for conductive silicon carbide sub-strates that would enable the proven beneficial properties of this material system to make their way into advanced, next-generation power electronics for a wide variety of applications.