Telco locks 12-inch silicon carbide new war scene, layouts AI-era heat dissipation key materials

The global semiconductor industry has entered a new era of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) drive, and heat dissipation management is gradually becoming the core bottleneck that affects whether chip design and process can be broken through. While advanced packaging structures such as 3D stacking and 2.5D integration continue to push up wafer density and power consumption, traditional ceramic substrates have been unable to meet hot flux requirements. The crystalline foundry Longtou Tel is responding to this challenge with a huge material, which is to fully embrace the 12-inch silicon carbide (SiC) single crystal substrate and gradually withdraw from the Nitride (GaN) business. This not only symbolizes the material strategy recalibration of TECHNOLOGY, but also shows that heat dissipation management has been upgraded from "assisted technology" to the key to "competitive advantage".

Silicon carbide is known as a wide energy gap semiconductor. In the past, it was mainly used for high-efficiency power electronic devices, such as electric vehicle inverters, industrial motor control and new energy infrastructure. However, SiC's potential is more than that, with an excellent thermal conductivity of about 500W/mK, which is far higher than common ceramic substrates such as aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) or blue stone (Sapphire).

High-density applications such as AI accelerators, data center processors and AR smart lenses are gradually being implemented, and the problem of restricted heat dissipation space is becoming increasingly serious. Especially in wearable devices, the micro wafer assembly is close to the eye, and without accurate heat control will affect safety and stability. This has enabled the tyrene to replace traditional ceramic substrates with large-sized single crystal SiC with long-term experience in the 12-inch wafer round process. This means that there is no need to rebuild the manufacturing system, that is, new materials can be introduced into existing production lines, and both yield and cost advantages.

Although SiC substrates for heat dissipation management do not need to meet the strict electrical defect standards of power components, crystal integrity is still important. Many external factors will not only interfere with voice transmission, weaken the heat conductivity, but may also cause local overheating, which will affect the mechanical strength and surface flatness. For 12-inch large-size crystal circles, tuning and deformation are key topics, because they directly affect the yield of chip patching and advanced packaging. Therefore, the focus of the industry has shifted from "eliminating electrical defects" to "ensure uniform density, low porosity and high surface flatness", which are considered as the prerequisite for producing SiC heat dissipation substrates with high yield.

report states that SiC combines high heat conductivity, strong mechanical properties and heat-resistant shock properties, and has shown unique advantages in 2.5D and 3D packaging structures. Including 2.5D integration, the wafer and rack are installed on silicon or organic intermediary layers, with short and efficient signal connections, and the heat dissipation challenge is mainly in the horizontal direction. In addition, in terms of 3D integration, the wafer passes through silicon through silicon vias (TSV) or hybrid patch vertical stacking, and the connection density is extremely high, but the heat dissipation pressure is also doubled. Therefore, in addition to being a passive heat dissipation material, SiC can also be used with advanced heat dissipation solutions such as diamonds and liquid metals to form a "hybrid cooling" solution.

Recently, Taiwan Electric announced that it plans to gradually withdraw from the GN business by 2027 and transfer resources to the SiC field. This shows the company's re-evaluation of the market and materials strategy. Because compared with GaN's advantages in high frequency applications, SiC's comprehensive and scalable thermal management is more in line with the long-term layout of tyrene. The 12-inch large size can not only reduce unit costs, but also improve process uniformity. Although SiC still faces challenges in slicing, polishing and flattening, the existing equipment and packaging capabilities of TECHNOLOGY are expected to overcome obstacles and accelerate mass production.

In fact, SiCs and electric vehicle power components were planned in the past. However, Telco is pushing SiC into new applications, such as the conductive N-type SiC as a heat dissipation substrate, which can carry out heat dissipation roles in high-performance processors and AI accelerators. Or semi-infinite SiC is an interposer to design in chip segmentation and chiplets, providing solutions that combine electrical isolation and thermal transmission. These new paths mean that SiC is no longer just "a synonym for power electronics", but will become the cornerstone material for "hot management bone tract" of AI and data center chips.

In the field of high-level materials, although diamond and graphene have extremely high heat conductivity (diamonds can reach 1,000~2,200W/mK, single-layer graphene is higher than 3,000~5,000W/mK), their high cost and process scale-up difficulties make it difficult to become the mainstream. Although alternatives such as liquid metal, conductive gel and microfluidic cooling are potential, they also have challenges in integration and mass production costs. In contrast, SiC shows the most practical compromise with the characteristics of "performance, mechanical strength and mass production".

Therefore, TEK's profound experience in the manufacturing of 12-inch wafers makes it different from other competitors. It can not only accelerate the construction of SiC platform with its existing foundation, but also quickly transform material advantages into system-level heat dissipation solutions with high process control capabilities. At the same time, Intel has promoted the Backside Power Delivery design with the Heat-Power, indicating that all global head manufacturers have already made the heat dissipation as their core competition.