Infineon Technologies AG and Schweizer Electronic AG (ETR: SCE) are collaborating on an innovative way to further increase the efficiency of chips based on silicon carbide (SiC). Both partners are developing a solution to embed Infineon’s 1200 V CoolSiC chips directly onto printed circuit boards (PCB). This will increase the range of electric vehicles and reduce the total system costs.

The two companies have already demonstrated the potential of this new approach by embeding a 48 V MOSFET in the PCB. This resulted in a 35% increase in performance. SCHWEIZER contributes to this success with its innovative p²Pack solution which enables power semiconductors to be embedded in PCBs.

Our joint goal is to take automotive power electronics to the next level. The low-inductive environment of a PCB allows clean and fast switching. Combined with the leading performance of 1200 V CoolSiC devices, chip embedding enables highly integrated and efficient inverters that reduce overall system costs.

—Robert Hermann, Product Line Head Automotive High-Voltage Discretes and Chips, Infineon

With Infineon’s 100 percent electrically tested standard cells (S-Cell), we can achieve high overall yields in the p² Pack manufacturing process. The fast-switching characteristics of the CoolSiC chips are optimally supported by the low-inductance interconnection that can be achieved with the p² Pack. This leads to increased efficiency and improved reliability of power conversion units such as traction inverters, DC-DC converters, or on-board chargers.

—Thomas Gottwald, Vice President Technology at Schweizer Electronic AG

Infineon and SCHWEIZER will showcase the 1200 V CoolSiC chip embedding technology at PCIM Europe 2023 in Nuremberg in May.