If you have a position in Aehr, or maybe just contemplating taking a position, the 12 minute video link below may be of interest to you. Ooops! I haven’t a clue why this video has suddenly become unavailable. I just watched myself maybe an hour ago and now it can’t be displayed? Even more mysterious, I have no problem viewing it on my computer. Makes no sense whatsoever . . .
One of the many businesses in which Mitsubishi is engaged is the manufacture of microchips including those made from SiC. The video explains the advantages of using SiC as opposed to just Si. It further describes some of the applications for SiC chips.
Is Mitsubishi an Aehr customer? I don’t know, and this video does not describe anything related to the manufacture of SiC devices. Does every SiC application require burn in testing? I’m not certain of the answer to that question either, but I suspect the answer is “yes.”
The reason I think burn in is necessary irrespective of the application is due to the fact that manufacturing SiC at the purity level required in order to make microchips is very difficult. I have no idea what the yield of burn in testing might be, but it’s probably true that the mortality rate is high. I think it’s safe to assume that any manufacturer of these chips would make an effort to weed out faulty chips before they are packaged and sold.
And I just now came across this article describing the growth in SiC wafer and chip vendors.
Regarding Musk, Founder/CEO of Tesla, discussing Tesla’s ability to decrease use of SiCby 75%, I found this thread on Linkenin helpful. As stated above SiC uptake for use in inverters was mainstreamed by Tesla when they first releases the Model 3.
Some interesting information coming out of Tesla yesterday. One that seems to have been picked up is the intention to reduce SiC content by 75% on future models.
So in summary, the die themselves are smaller today, and with considerable real-world road mileage under their belt, the die have proven their reliability and limits of operation. Hence, there is considerable scope for the inverter to be laid out in a more optimised way compared to the original Model 3 design. This is how we expect to see a reduction in SiC usage. What we don’t know is whether we will see Tesla move from a 400V system to 800V, or if the motor and inverter power will reduce. Both would reduce SiC usage again. Tesla Announcement: https://lnkd.in/etyXutVQ Current Tesla Model3 Inverter image: https://lnkd.in/eTuBryE4 Mclaren Applied/ST Acepack Announcement: https://lnkd.in/eyg2_NRE
I don’t think this diminishes the long term use of SiC use presently, due to the over massive uptake throughout several growing markets. Hats off to Brittlerock for a masterful post on that.
