ALD for Power and RF Electronics

SiC and GaN chips are commercially available in a variety of voltage/current ratings and have gone through several generations of optimization. However, barriers to mass commercialization remain including the higher than silicon device cost, defects that limit yields and chip area, reliability and ruggedness concerns, and the need for a trained workforce to skillfully insert WBG chips into power electronic circuits. This presentation will discuss remaining commercialization barriers and highlight efforts to overcome them.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Victor Veliadis is Executive Director and CTO of PowerAmerica, a Manufacturing USA Institute accelerating silicon carbide and gallium nitride power semiconductors. He has managed over $150 million across 200+ projects advancing manufacturing and workforce development. An IEEE and NAI Fellow and NC State professor, he holds 27 U.S. patents and 165 publications, and has delivered 200+ presentations. 

The imec GaN Power Electronics Program roadmap will be presented, and it will be indicated where ALD depositions play an important role.  The program has three tracks.  The first track is called “Industrialization” and answers short term needs of our industrial partners.  In the second track called “Exploration” we develop next generation technologies. In the third track, we develop GaN Power Electronics devices on larger diameter substrates (300mm).

About the Speaker: 

Stefaan Decoutere received the M.Sc. degree in Electronic Engineering and the Ph.D. degree from the Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, Belgium, in 1986 and 1992 respectively.  Since 2010 he has been managing the GaN Power Electronics technology development, and in 2015 he became the Director of the GaN Power Electronics program.  Stefaan Decoutere is an IMEC Fellow since 2023.  

To further improve Bosch’s globally competitive dual-channel trench gate product family, it is beneficial to investigate the potential of innovative gate-formation procedures that result in resilient 4H-SiC/SiO2 interfaces with increased µFE. ALD offers low-T manufacturing, in-situ passivation and interface engineering which enables enhanced interfaces versus state-of-the-art SiO2 gate-formation approaches. Together with Beneq we pioneered promising results for µFE and Ec. Alternative gate-insulator materials and challenges related to gate-oxide requirements to industrialize resilient automotive quality will also be discussed.

About the Speaker:

Dr. sc. nat. Holger Bartolf received his Dipl.–Phys. and Ph.D. degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Zurich, respectively. He developed nanotechnology on the 10nm lengthscale capable of cryogenic single-photon detection. In 2011 he joined ABB Corporate Research, where he developped SiC rectifiers and supervised the 1st SiC MOSFET technology prototypes for 3.3kV traction applications. Since 2016, he works as a SiC FET design engineer at the Mobility Electronics business unit of the Robert Bosch GmbH in Reutlingen. 

Beneq Transform® has become a widely adopted ALD platform across power electronics and RF markets, enabling high-quality surface passivation and scalable manufacturing. Building on this success, Beneq is introducing significant throughput enhancements and a next-generation chamber solution tailored for future power devices. This presentation will showcase the new generation of the Transform platform and offer a first glimpse of a completely new product Beneq is preparing to launch in parallel.

About the Speakers:

Lucas Monteiro, Head of Product, Beneq

Mikko Söderlund, Head of Sales, Beneq