Bosch to build new semiconductor fab in Reutlingen
Semiconductor and micromachined chips from Reutlingen are used above all in the automobile industry. As components in electronic control units, they form the "central nervous system" of many functions in the vehicle, including electronic safety systems such as ABS, ESP, or airbags, fuel-efficient and clean engines with electronic engine management, or modern driver assistance systems. On average, between 100 and 200 application-specific microchips are installed in a middle or luxury-class car.
"We anticipate that the semiconductor market for automotive applications will grow by an average of ten percent per year in the medium term," said Dr. Bernd Bohr, member of the Bosch Board of Management and Chairman of the Automotive Group.
In addition, the company is opening up additional marketing channels, especially in consumer electronics, via its recently founded subsidiary Bosch Sensortec. In total, some 800 jobs will be created in the new 200-millimeter semiconductor manufacturing facility by 2012.
The company will be able to cover most of its requirements for qualified personnel internally – drawing especially on associates from a nearby facility. The new 200-millimeter wafer fab in Reutlingen will mainly be geared to the "smart power process." In this technology, integrated circuits combine on one chip highly sensitive signal processing and high-voltage circuits for the control of high-performance actuators.
These chips have to work reliably even under the especially tough thermal and mechanical loads experienced during automobile operation. The technology applied here uses ultra-fine structures, which are deposited on the chips. In the initial stages, these structures will be 0.35 micrometers wide – far less than one hundredth of the diameter of a human hair.
At a later stage, Bosch plans to halve structure width to 0.18 micrometers. Precision such as this makes extremely high demands of manufacturing technology. In addition, MEMS technologies are also to be rolled out in the 200-millimeter wafer fab, manufacturing micromechanical sensors that are used above all in the automobile, but also in cell phones, handhelds, or games consoles. With this move, Bosch is ensuring that it will be able to draw on the most advanced manufacturing technology in this growth market for many years to come.
