Pallidus Announces M-SiC Technology

Pallidus, a spin-off from the Houston-based materials company Melior Innovations, has announced its M-SiC material and technology platform with the capability to deliver cost/performance parity against silicon devices in the $12.5 billion power device market.

With a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of greater than 25 percent, SiC power devices deliver superior performance in key segments of the power electronics market – wind energy, electronic vehicles and aerospace. A hurdle to market expansion, however, is the cost and availability of high quality SiC wafers.

Pallidus believes that its M-SiC technology provides the solution providing what it claims is the purest and most uniform SiC source materials. Delivering a major reduction in wafer defects, M-SiC can significantly improve overall device yield delivering up to a 50 percent decrease in both wafer and device production costs with a significantly lower capital investment.

“After extensive industry and independent third-party testing, it is clear that we have a disruptive game changer,”said Glenn Sandgren, CEO, Pallidus. “The possibilities for new uses of wafer technology are as limitless as the future of the power electronics market.”

Andrei Maltsev, president AGP Technologies LLC stated: “The very high purity and form of M-SiC has allowed us to grow the highest quality 4H-SiC 6-inch wafers with the lowest defect density we have ever seen.”

Peter Wellman of the University of Erlangen, Germany, said: “M-SiC exhibits exceptional opportunity for the growth of the highest quality crystals. In addition, the capability to produce custom shaped ‘charges’ enables the never before seen opportunity to achieve ideal system performance.”

“Despite its superior performance, high cost is the key obstacle for the full adoption of SiC power devices. In particular the SiC wafer contributes up to 60 percent of the final cost. Technology that can drive a major cost reduction will immediately and significantly accelerate SiC technology adoption and penetration,” comments Hong Lin, technology & market analyst at Yole