Friday, August 7, 2009

IGBT CoST: Tool for IGBT manufacturing cost analysis

LYON, FRANCE: Yole Développement has released the IGBT CoST, a tool for IGBT Manufacturing Cost Analysis. This tool is ideal for strategic marketing executives, process managers and R&D engineers analyzing the economic feasibility of different IGBT manufacturing approaches.

IGBT equipment suppliers can use IGBT CoST to know the operating cost of their equipment and can compare with their competitors. It is also of great help for purchasing managers who want to understand their supplier’s costs.Source: Yole Développement.

IGBT is the key transistor technology for the applications requiring high frequency switching at 900V and over voltage breakdown. In these fields, numerous growing applications are exhibiting a tremendous CAGR such as Hybrid/Electric Automotive, Rail transportation, industrial motor drives, smart power transmission, UPS, induction cookers, wind turbines and part of the PV inverter industry.

“In 2010, the market for IGBT power module should raise 1,600 M$ including market segments with more than 60% CAGR over 2007‐2012 time frame. 1.2kV‐1.4kV remains the most demand segment but 1.7kV, 3.3kV and 6.5kV look very promising in the transportation and energy sectors” says Dr Philippe Roussel, Project Manager at Yole Développement.

Powerful tool designed for power electronics community
With IGBT devices providing mission critical functionality in more applications, the need for comprehensive cost simulation is paramount.

Due to their specific manufacturing process (thin wafer, back‐face laser annealing…) the cost of IGBT devices can be difficult to estimate. Components such as PT, NPT, trench‐IGBT or Bi‐ Mode IGT involve very different process steps.

This is why a specific and very flexible tool is required for their cost estimation. Yole Développement, leader in the analysis of MEMS applications and markets, and System Plus Consulting, leader in cost analysis of electronic products have joined forces to provide this unique IGBT Cost Simulation Tool (CoST).

Multiple benefits of IGBT Cost Simulation Tool (CoST)

The use of IGBT CoST:
• Estimation of the IGBT device margin
• Understanding of the cost structure
• Competitive analysis
• Cost evaluation for different technology options
• Identification of the cost pain points in your process
• Definition of a business model (fabless, fablight, manufacturing)

Functions of IGBT Cost:
• Possibility to run the cost simulation for a variety of different conditions (region, clean
room class, process type, etc)
• Integrated Equipment, Wafer & Materials Databases
• Very high flexibility:
o IGBT CoST allows the user to enter any IGBT process flow
o The manufacturing process flows are created dynamically in a friendly hierarchical view where each process step can be moved, modified or deleted.
o The user can save an unlimited number of process flows, equipment types and materials
o A project manager function offers the possibility to save all users created data and scenarios (Wafer Fab unit, process flow, yields…) and to reuse them later.
• Two calculation modes: for dedicated fabs and non‐dedicated fabs.
• Simulation of up to five simultaneous scenarios allowing the user to run sensitivity analysis and compare results like yield improvement, manufacturing location impact on cost, etc.
• IGBT CoST uses an ExcelTM interface for maximum usability. This tool will enable you to evaluate the cost per wafer for manufacturing using your own inputs or using the predefined parameters included with the tool.

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