Infineon succeeds in producing chips on new 300-millimeter thin wafer technology for power semiconductors

Infineon Technologies AG has produced the first chips ("first silicon") on a 300-millimeter thin wafer for power semiconductors at the Villach site in Austria. This makes Infineon the first company in the world to succeed in taking this step forward. The chips now produced on a 300-millimeter thin wafer exhibit the same behavior as the power semiconductors made on 200-millimeter wafers – as has been demonstrated by successful application tests using Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) for High Voltage applications.

“Our engineers’ achievement marks a quantum leap in production technology,” says Dr. Reinhard Ploss, Operations, Research & Development and Labor Director of Infineon Technologies AG. “Innovation lays the foundation for profitable growth. Innovation secures our edge over the competition.”

Infineon had embarked on setting up a power semiconductor pilot line for 300-millimeter wafer and thin wafer technology in Villach, Austria, in October 2010. The team today is composed of 50 engineers and physicists from the fields of research and development, manufacturing technology and marketing.

55 years after the transistor was invented, Infineon had received the German Industry’s Innovation Award in 2002 for its revolutionary CoolMOS transistor technology. The high-voltage power transistors raise energy efficiency in an array of applications, such as PC power supplies, servers, solar power inverters, lighting and telecommunications systems. These energy-saving chips are also indispensable components in consumer electronics devices, for instance in flat-screen TVs and games consoles. Using energy efficiently and saving energy are becoming the prime requirements for all electrically powered industrial or household applications. Infineon’s energy-efficient semiconductor solutions allow savings of up to 25 percent of global power consumption.

As part of the investment plans, the company announced end of July this year to set up Dresden as the high volume production site for Power 300 technology. At first up until 2014, Infineon Technologies Dresden GmbH will invest around Euro 250 million for this purpose and will create approx. 250 jobs in Dresden, Germany.