G10-SiC from AIXTRON SE - power electronics furnace for 200 mm wafers

Reviewed: ad hoc news Classics & Longseller desk. Edited and checked on 2026-06-28, 06:17. Details in the imprint.

G10-SiC from AIXTRON SE is not a gadget you put on your desk, it is a towering reactor that bakes silicon carbide layers onto wafers while you hear the low hum of vacuum pumps in the cleanroom. You smell nothing, you only see indicator lights and the steady rhythm of carrier handling. For engineers, this is where future electric drivetrains quietly take shape.

What the G10-SiC does

AIXTRON designed the G10-SiC as a next-generation MOCVD platform for epitaxial growth of silicon carbide on 150 mm and 200 mm wafers, targeting high-volume production of power devices such as MOSFETs and diodes. Compared with older batch tools, the reactor focuses on higher throughput and tighter uniformity across each wafer, which is critical when every milliohm in a car inverter matters.

In practice, a process engineer like Dr. Felix Grawert, co-CEO and long-time technologist at AIXTRON, will talk about the G10-SiC in terms of macro-uniformity, defect density and dopant control rather than marketing slogans. When he stands next to the system, he does not see an opaque metal cabinet, he sees control over epitaxy thickness to fractions of a micrometer and dopant profiles that enable lower conduction losses and higher breakdown voltages.

Why silicon carbide matters

To understand the G10-SiC, you need to imagine an EV powertrain drawing hundreds of amps through switches that must remain cool and reliable. Silicon carbide devices reduce switching losses and allow higher junction temperatures, which in turn shrink the size of inverters and on-board chargers. The quality of the epitaxial layers grown in a reactor like G10-SiC directly affects how far an electric car drives per charge.

Every wafer that passes through the G10-SiC carries dozens or hundreds of power chips. AIXTRON’s engineers chase metrics like defect density per square centimeter because each micropipe or stacking fault can kill a device at high voltage. The reactor’s ability to maintain uniform growth conditions across 200 mm wafers is therefore not an abstract specification, it is the difference between scrap and sellable die for manufacturers.

Daily work around the reactor

On a typical day, a process engineer in a fab will load a cassette of silicon carbide substrates into the G10-SiC, start the recipe and then watch the control screens rather than the hardware. The screens show temperature profiles across the susceptor, gas flow rates of precursor chemicals and real-time pressure data. When the recipe runs smoothly, the room feels almost calm, broken only by the soft hiss of purge gases and the clacking sound when carriers are moved in and out.

Handling silicon carbide wafers is a tactile experience as well. They feel stiffer and more brittle than standard silicon, and the engineer will often check the backside for micro scratches before trusting them to the expensive epitaxy process. The G10-SiC is designed to minimize mechanical handling steps and maintain a clean environment, because every dust particle risks turning into a crystal defect later.

Configuration and modularity

G10-SiC is built as a modular system, with core reactor hardware, gas cabinets, exhaust treatment and automation modules that can be configured to match a customer’s fab layout. AIXTRON offers process recipes and support packages, but customers usually tune them further to meet their own device specifications. That tuning can involve slow, methodical work over months, tweaking flows of silane and hydrocarbon gases and adjusting temperature ramps by a few degrees.

The reactor’s layout makes maintenance work comparatively tidy. Service technicians can access valves and sensors from defined panels without crawling behind pipes. In interviews, AIXTRON staff have stressed that downtime is one of the big cost drivers in epitaxy, so ease of preventive maintenance has become a selling point for the G10-SiC platform.

How users experience the tool

Ask a fab engineer about the G10-SiC and they will rarely mention the brand first. They talk about stable runs, predictable ramp-up behaviour and how many wafers per day they can push through without alarms. When the recipe is dialled in, batches come out with consistent colour and reflectivity on the epitaxial layer, an optical cue that parameters stayed within spec even before metrology confirms the thickness profile.

Long shifts around such a reactor are physically quiet but mentally demanding. Operators sit at control stations, headphones off, listening for any unfamiliar vibration or click. Experienced technicians can distinguish between a normal pump-down sequence and a drift in pressure by sound alone, and AIXTRON’s automation is designed so that these human observations complement sensor data rather than fight it.

Market role and stock lens

All told, the G10-SiC sits at the centre of AIXTRON’s pitch to power semiconductor makers that are expanding their silicon carbide lines for EVs, renewable energy and industrial drives. It is a classic capital equipment product, ordered months or years ahead of capacity ramps and then run hard once installed.

AIXTRON shares (ISIN DE000A0WMPJ6) are listed in Frankfurt, and the G10-SiC platform is one of the tools investors watch when they gauge how deeply the company is tied into the long-term expansion of silicon carbide power electronics. The company does not publish tool-level sales data but regularly highlights silicon carbide epitaxy demand as a growth driver.

This article was AI-assisted and editorially reviewed. Product information without guarantee; prices and availability may change at short notice. No investment advice, no buy or sell recommendation. Stock-market transactions involve risks up to total loss.