News Article
Infineon and partners collaborate to strengthen semiconductor industry in Europe
Infineon Technologies AG has hosted a two-day meeting at its Villach site to kick-off one of the largest European research projects focused on advancing industrial production capability.
The research project, "Enhanced Power Pilot Line" (EPPL), is aimed at further strengthening Europe as a high-technology industrial production site.
A total of 32 European partners from industry and research are collaborating to advance production technology for power semiconductors, an industry segment where Europe already has the leading position. Europe is home to the first power semiconductor production sites manufacturing devices using 300-millimeter thin-wafer technology, i.e. on silicon wafers with a 300mm diameter which in addition are extremely thin: hardly thicker than a sheet of paper. With EPPL, Europe intends to further expand this production advantage.
The partner organizations cover the entire industry and research value chain of 300 mm power semiconductor production, comprising material research with a focus on silicon, semiconductor development that includes 3D integration and packaging, and related developments in logistics and automation technologies. The project will run until mid 2016, with Infineon as the project lead.
"A project volume of €74 million and the commitment of 32 partner organizations strongly underline the importance of EPPL for the semiconductor industry in Europe," says Sabine Herlitschka, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Infineon Technologies Austria. "Infineon currently is the only company worldwide to produce power semiconductors on 300-millimeter thin-wafers. We are proud and honoured to contribute our experience in this area to the EPPL project and thus to Europe's technology advancement."
EPPL Research Goals
The EPPL research aims to develop an advanced generation of power semiconductors manufactured in the 300mm thin-wafer production technology, such as CoolMOS, IGBT, and SFET, as well as to further refine the production technology itself. The results of the project shall include the setup of a pilot-line as well as application demonstrators.
In its "Europe 2020" initiative, the European Commission has set ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to improve energy efficiency and to establish electromobility in Europe. Power semiconductors that are designed and manufactured at competitive costs and in sufficient quantities in Europe are key enablers, and EPPL was set up to make a major contribution to achieve these targets.
For this reason, EPPL is supported by the European Union as well as by national and regional funding of the participating nations. Among others, the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) plans to support the EPPL project under its "Information and Communication Technology 2020"program.
About the EPPL research partners
The EPPL partners from industry and research stem from the six European countries Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal.
The partners are Adixen Vacuum Products, Air Liquide electronics Systems, ams AG, CEST Kompetenzzentrum fuer elektrochemische Oberflächentechnologie GmbH, Commissariat a l"˜Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, CTR Carinthian Tech Research, E-MOSS, Entegris Cleaning Process, EV Group E. Thallner GmbH, Fachhochschule Stralsund, Fraunhofer E.V. IISB, Fronius International GmbH, Heliox BV, Infineon Technologies (with Austria, Germany and Italy), International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Ion Beam Services, KAI, Lear Corporation GmbH, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Eisenforschung GmbH, Montanuniversität Leoben, NANIUM S.A., Nmb-Minebea GmbH, Philips Healthcare (with Germany and the Netherlands), Plansee SE, SPTS Technologies SAS, and the Technical Universities of Dresden (Germany), Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and Graz (Austria).
Kick-Off Meeting at Infineon in Villach
The importance of EPPL is demonstrated by the presence of all project partners and representatives of funding bodies and government during the project Kick-Off on April 25 and 26, 2013, e.g. Willy Van Puymbroeck, Head of the Unit for Nano-electronics Connect Directorate General "žCONNECT" of the European Commission; Andreas Wild, Executive Director of ENIAC Joint Undertaking of the European Union; Ingolf Schaedler, Deputy Director General at the BMVIT "“ Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology; and Peter Kaiser, Governor of Carinthia, Austria.
