Ascatron Secures €3.5 Million in Funding

There is still innovation in semiconductor space. Ascatron, a Stockholm-based startup, produces semiconductors with their unique Silicon Carbide (SiC) technology. This tech landed them a €3.5 million Euro funding deal with a joint venture company in China. Ascatron plan to use the money to continue developing their products.

“We use advanced epitaxial growth as part of the manufacturing process of our SiC devices to form buried doped structures as voltage blocking elements. These structures protect the sensitive die surface from high electric fields and allow device designs optimized for high power ratings”, says Adolf Schöner, CTO of Ascatron. “The key performance advantages are 15-30% higher current density and reliable operation even at elevated temperatures”.

SiC radically reduces losses in electric power converters and lowers system costs, making it key technology for many applications such as industrial motor drives, electric vehicles and renewable energy. Ascatron focuses on the supply of bare SiC dies for power modules and discrete components. In addition to the general advantages of SiC, Ascatron’s 3DSiC® technology enables up to 30% lower power dissipation, higher current density and improved reliability.

“The cost advantage of our 3DSiC® devices comes into play especially at a higher voltage and current ratings”, says Christian Vieider, CEO of Ascatron. “The near-term target for our SiC diodes are 1200V and 1700V power modules. Next step will be to scale-up our SiC device wafer capacity together with our production partners”.

The team is committed to developing medium and high voltage power semiconductor products with minimal losses and reliable operation based on advanced SiC material technology. Ascatron design the power device and keep in-house production of the key epitaxy material in Stockholm, Sweden, while chip fabrication is outsourced. Ascatron’s move selling company shares to a Chinese join venture will help them scale and expand their range of products.