Materials and laser company Coherent and Mitsubishi Electric signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly carry out a plan to expand the manufacturing scale of SiC power electronic products on the 200mm technology platform.http://www.ic-bom.com/

In order to meet the rapidly growing demand for SiC chips, especially for electric vehicles, Mitsubishi Electric announced that it will invest about 1.8 billion US dollars (260 billion yen) in the five years up to March 2026. The main portion of the investment is approximately 711 million US dollars (100 billion yen), which will be used to build a new SiC power device factory based on a 200mm technology platform and strengthen related production facilities. According to the memorandum of understanding, Coherent will develop and supply 200mm n-type 4H SiC substrates for SiC power devices produced by Mitsubishi Electric in the new factory in the future.

"We are very happy to establish a cooperative relationship with Mitsubishi Electric. Mitsubishi Electric is the pioneer of SiC power devices and the global market leader of SiC power modules for high-speed trains (including the famous Shinkansen in Japan)," said Sohail Khan, executive vice president of Cohent New Enterprise and Broadband Gap Electronic Technology Department, "We have a long record in supplying silicon carbide substrates to Mitsubishi Electric and look forward to expanding our relationship with them to expand the scale of its new 200mm silicon carbide platform."http://www.ic-bom.com/

"Coherent has been a reliable supplier of high-quality 150mm SiC wafer substrate for Mitsubishi Electric for many years," said Masayoshi Takemi, executive officer of Mitsubishi Electric Semiconductor and Device Department and group president, "We are very happy to establish this close partnership with Coherent to expand our respective silicon carbide manufacturing platform to 200mm."

Coherent showcased the world‘s first 200mm conductive substrate in 2015. In 2019, Coherent began supplying 200mm SiC substrates under REACTION (a four-year Horizon 2020 program funded by the European Commission).

Mitsubishi Electric launched the world‘s first SiC power module for air conditioning in 2010, and became the first supplier of all SiC power modules for Shinkansen high-speed trains in 2015.http://www.ic-bom.com/