The European Union intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and has the goal be climate-neutral by 2050. Passenger cars and vans are collectively responsible for around 15% of total EU emissions of CO2. To meet the 2050 climate goal, road transport CO2 emissions would then have to decline more than three times as quickly (5.5% per year) from 2035 to 2050. Can such ambitious vehicle CO2 targets of the European Union and also those of other countries be achieved?

CS Chua will discuss the contribution of semiconductor companies to enable next-generation zero-emission mobility. Using electric vehicles, he explains how it is technically feasible to meet CO2 targets for vehicles while also meeting other crucial factors, such as extension of vehicle range, improvement of charging speed and the availability of a reliable charging infrastructure – with electricity from renewable energy sources. He discusses the market prospects for electric vehicles from 2023 to 2030 and the mix of semiconductor materials such as silicon, silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) used during this period.

Vehicle electrification is a set trend, led by developed countries and China, for the coming decades. Globally, Yole forecast (Q1 2023) a combined growth of ~1.2% in the period between 2022 to 2028, which the total light duty vehicle drops ~3% meanwhile. BEV definitely leads the growth with ~16% increase, far advancing the total market.

This change of powertrain landscape is reshaping the supply chain with several ongoing features highly relevant to the power electronics community, which are to be full explained in the presentation: Auto OEMs are turning more to in-house development and production: high voltage system integration is growing in various directions; power electronics demonstrate strong resilience towards current Si cycles; wide band gap materials are going through incubation to mainstream.

Opposite to common understanding, Yole is seeing huge opportunities of BEV development in developing countries, although the current penetration is low. Strategies, including financial promotion in both BEV supply chain and charging infrastructure, leveraging existing BEV supply chain, right positioning BEV models for local needs, and 2-wheeler early adoption, etc. can be applied by official and private investment in some developing countries, like India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, etc.

EV, IoT and industry 4.0 open new market opportunities in the semiconductor field. The potential is high but so are the expectations to quickly fulfil the stringent specifications and requirements for tomorrow’s products. The customer focus is shifting into embedding more and more capabilities into their devices in order to develop smart products. Several challenges must be faced in each of the stages of the MEMS and sensors development: from the conceptual design employing unconventional materials and unique processes to the characterization and reliability assessment of complex structures. In this talk we will provide an overview to the journey from a conventional pure-play CMOS foundry to become a reference partner in more than Moore technologies with special emphasis into MEMS, sensors and its monolithic integration with CMOS devices.

In the field of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), material innovation drives MEMS process platform development. Over the past decade, MEMS has experienced remarkable growth and the commercialization of RF MEMS devices, primarily due to advancements in AlN/ScAlN film processes. Therefore, to effectively translate innovations in piezoelectric materials into the development of piezoelectric MEMS devices, it is essential to establish a Piezoelectric MEMS process platform capable of implementing the optimized stack and structure required for specific applications. IME is actively developing in the development of Piezoelectric MEMS process platforms and would like to share our progress. In this presentation, we introduce IME’s MEMS platforms and their associated applications:1. Back cavity platform for ultrasonic ranging and imaging2. Piezoelectric Silicon-on-Nothing platform for dense PMUT array (e.g. microfluidics)3. Thin-film ScAlN platform for RF ME

With no doubt, we are all witnessing the digitization of all aspects of our life promising formidable devices and business opportunities. The automotive industry’s push for autonomous driving and electrification is challenging suppliers and designers. Automotive requirements are very demanding not only on reliability but also performance under harsh environments and across wide temperature ranges. Modern cars have more than 50 timing devices needing a stable reference clock. Classically these clocks were based on Quartz crystals yet such traditional solutions face many performance challenges. Pearl Semiconductor SingleDie™ technology uses an innovative MEMS based solution integrating the resonator on the CMOS die forming a true one-stop shop for a reference clock that can withstand tough and demanding automotive requirements such as temperature and mechanical vibration. This breakthrough technology will pave the way to the first reference clock and timing chiplet solution opening unprecedented levels of integration and security.

The development of the semiconductor industry in the new era has appeared new characteristics. On the one hand, it is still developing in the direction of continuing Moore’s Law, and the technology node is in the 3nm era; on the other hand, it is developing in the direction of beyond Moore’s Law, and advanced packaging has significant impact on it. In the past two decades, advanced packaging technology has developed rapidly in the direction of system integration, high-speed, high-frequency, three-dimensional and fine pitch interconnections. As wafer-level advanced packaging can achieve system miniaturization and high performance, the advanced microsystem integration technology with wafer-level advanced packaging as the core is gradually developed.

1. The report focuses on the latest progress of advanced packaging in the new era,；
2. discusses Through Si Via (TSV), Fan-Out packaging (WL-FO) and Through Glass Via (TGV) wafer-level packaging technology will be widely used in MEMS and EV fields；
3. then further discusses the development path and trend from advanced packaging to advanced microsystem integration.

The world is confronting extraordinary challenges, and the preservation of our planet is no longer a choice, but a necessity. The semiconductors ecosystem emerges as a trailblazer, propelling rapid innovations. In this presentation, Mr. Muggeri will share the unwavering commitment of ST on sustainability, and how ST actively fosters sustainability by spearheading the production of renewable energies, amplifying power efficiency with the cutting-edge diffused intelligence (Digitalization) and pioneering Energy and Power Conversion. He will also discuss the new technologies like Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) contribute to better power efficiency and more intelligent solutions for energy usage.

Wolfspeed’s founders were the first to successfully commercialize Silicon Carbide, and for more than 35 years have focused on designing and supplying the industry’s highest-performing Silicon Carbide and GaN-on-Silicon-Carbide materials and devices for high-power applications.

In 2015 Wolfspeed acquired Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc. (APEI), which specialized with approx. 50 employees in wide-bandgap advanced and high-performance power modules for a variety of customers and applications, including the defense, aerospace and automotive markets. Since its foundation in 1997, APEI created more than 100 patents and developed a broad power module portfolio above 10,000V and 1,000A.

The acquisition combined two experts with complementary skills to define the ideal combination of device and packaging technology to set the industry standard for power modules.

Today, Wolfspeed’s Power Module Business Unit with almost 150 people globally is developing and offering Silicon Carbide optimized power modules for mainly I&E, automotive and MV/HV applications.

Vehicle electrification, autonomous driving, renewable energy and big data are enabling unprecedent changes in human life, and are pushing the technology to new limits. Those major evolutions require power electronics and sensing solutions, driven by optimum technology and packaging solutions to deliver maximum product efficiency.

This talk will review recent progress in front end technology , packaging (discrete, power modules) and highlight the importance of system integration.

It will illustrate the challenges of simultaneously meeting a wide range of power density, product scalability , cost and reliability requirements, and are made possible by the ongoing progress in semiconductor research, engineering and manufacturing.