Infineon announced the launch of the world's thinnest silicon power wafer.
Infineon has launched the world's thinnest silicon - power wafer, which is a remarkable achievement in the semiconductor industry. **1. Technological Breakthrough** Infineon is the first company globally to master the processing technology of 20 - micron - thick ultra - thin power semiconductor wafers. The wafer has a diameter of 300mm and a thickness that is only a quarter of a human hair. It's half the thickness of the current most advanced wafers, which are usually 40 - 60 microns thick. **2. Technological Advantages** - **Reduction of Resistance and Power Consumption**: By reducing the wafer thickness, the substrate resistance can be directly halved. Compared with solutions based on traditional silicon wafers, this can reduce power loss in power systems by more than 15%. This is of great significance for rapidly developing applications such as AI data centers, as it effectively reduces energy consumption. - **Improvement of Power Conversion Efficiency**: The ultra - thin wafer technology, based on vertical trench MOSFET technology, promotes the design of vertical power transmission and enables a highly compact connection with AI chip processors. It can better meet the conversion requirements from 230V to less than 1.8V of the processor voltage in high - end AI server applications. This significantly reduces power loss and improves overall efficiency. **3. R & D Challenges and Solutions** To reduce the wafer thickness to 20 microns, Infineon's engineers faced numerous technical difficulties. For example, since the metal stack used to fix the chip is thicker than 20 microns, they had to develop an innovative and unique wafer - grinding method. Meanwhile, wafer - related challenges such as wafer warpage and wafer separation also had a significant impact on the back - end assembly process, which is crucial for ensuring wafer stability and first - class robustness. However, Infineon ultimately overcame these problems with its existing manufacturing expertise. This ensured that the new technology could be seamlessly integrated into the existing high - volume Si production line, guaranteeing the highest possible yield and supply security. **4. Market Applications and Prospects** This technology has been applied in Infineon's integrated intelligent power stage (DC - DC converter) and has been delivered to the first batch of customers. As the ultra - thin wafer technology is gradually promoted, it's expected that within the next three to four years, the existing traditional wafer technology will be replaced by alternative technologies for low - voltage power converters. From consumer, motor - control, and computing applications to AI data centers, it has broad application prospects and is expected to bring rapidly growing business opportunities for Infineon. It's predicted that within the next two years, Infineon's AI - related business revenue alone will exceed 1 billion euros. **5. Consolidation of Industry Position** The launch of the world's thinnest silicon - power wafer is another milestone for Infineon in the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology, following the announcement of the world's first 300 - mm gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductor wafer and the completion of the world's largest 200 - mm silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor wafer factory. This breakthrough further consolidates Infineon's unique position in the market, enabling it to become an industry - innovation leader with a comprehensive product and technology portfolio covering Si, SiC, and GaN, fully demonstrating its strong strength in promoting global low - carbon and digital trends.