Showa Denko K.K. concluded a long-term supply contract with Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation (Toshiba), a Japanese electronic device manufacturer providing highly efficient SiC-power-semiconductor based power devices for the global market, to supply SiC epitaxial wafers for power semiconductors (SiC epi-wafers) for two and a half years with an optional extension clause.
Toshiba has been developing and commercializing various kinds of SiC-based power devices including inverters for railcars, while adopting SiC epi-wafers manufactured by SDK as main material for SiC-based schottky barrier diode[1] (SiC SBD) and SiC-based metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor[2] (SiC MOSFET).
Toshiba decided to conclude this long-term contract because the company appreciated homogeneity in properties[3] and low density of surface defects[4] of SiC epi-wafers manufactured by SDK. This long-term contract will further strengthen technical cooperation between SDK and Toshiba on improvement in performance of SiC epi-wafers. In addition, SDK expects that Toshiba’s adoption of SiC epi-wafers manufactured by SDK will help SDK to expand its SiC epi-wafer business further.
As the largest independent manufacturer of SiC epi-wafers (estimated by SDK), and under a motto of “Best in Class,” the Showa Denko Group will continue coping with rapid expansion of the market for SiC epi-wafers and providing the market with high-performance and highly-reliable products, thereby contributing to the propagation of SiC power semiconductors which save energy with small power loss and less heat generation.
