Onsemi Bets on Integrated Power-Semiconductor Strategy, Raises Power Density for AI and EVs with EPP

Onsemi introduced the Embedded Power Platform (EPP) as its next-generation power-semiconductor platform. The goal is to respond to rising power demand. Onsemi said growth in the AI, automotive and manufacturing industries is driving greater demand for handling more power in limited space. It also said power-system design challenges now require managing heat, size and cost while improving efficiency, and that power density has emerged as a core constraint in next-generation systems.

Accordingly, Onsemi held an online Embedded Power Platform (EPP) media briefing on the 30th to introduce the technology strategy. The presentation was given by Onsemi Principal FAE Im Byung-chul. During the briefing, Onsemi said EPP moves away from the traditional approach of separately optimizing power semiconductors, packaging and control functions.

Onsemi said EPP is an approach that integrates electrical, thermal and mechanical elements from the early design stage. It said this can improve power density and system performance.

In conventional power-system design practices, electrical, mechanical and thermal elements were mostly optimized separately. However, improving performance in one area could degrade performance in another.

In addition, sequential development processes could increase system complexity, and the burden of design changes in the later stages of development could grow. Onsemi introduced EPP as a way to solve these problems with the traditional approach.

The EPP approach is characterized by considering electrical, mechanical and thermal elements simultaneously from the design stage. EPP is applied through an integrated design method.

Onsemi identified a silicon embedded package as one of EPP's core elements. The structure Onsemi presented embeds heterogeneous dies in silicon and connects each die using a wafer-level redistribution layer (RDL). This is a concept that moves the role of the package beyond a simple passive wafer-level package and toward one that directly contributes to improving system performance.

EPP was designed to support a range of applications based on platform-level technological independence and to enable support for semiconductor materials. It also reflects the possibility of scaling to multiple power levels.

Principal FAE Im identified the components of EPP as embedded power dies, wafer-level metal interconnects, embedded control functions and silicon-based packages. He explained that embedded power dies are designed to support Si, SiC, GaN and future technologies, allowing a combination of various power devices.

Wafer-level metal interconnects replace conventional wire bonding with precision redistribution layers. Through this approach, electrical interconnections with semiconductor fab-level precision are applied, leading to lower parasitic inductance, improved device control performance and higher switching frequencies, Principal FAE Im said.

Embedded control functions are implemented by integrating drivers, controllers and power devices. As a result, electrical coupling is strengthened, and power and control functions are integrated into a single platform, reducing system-level complexity, Principal FAE Im explained.

Silicon-based packages are implemented on the basis of proven silicon design and fab infrastructure, with advanced simulation and verification applied. This can shorten time to market.

The package provides a low-resistance thermal path to improve thermal performance, and also integrates high-voltage isolation functions inside the package. As a result, power density improves and thermal and electrical performance are enhanced together.

Onsemi identified thermal performance, built-in isolation, electrical performance and rapid development as the main advantages of EPP.

Principal FAE Im explained that heat dissipation performance improves through thermal conduction using the silicon-based architecture and the full package area, supporting continuous high-power operation. He also said built-in isolation technology can integrate high-voltage isolation functions and reduce dependence on low-thermal-efficiency insulating materials, while enabling a smaller and more integrated power architecture.

Onsemi presented the use of wafer-level redistribution layers as EPP's electrical implementation method. It said this shortens electrical paths and precisely controls them.

Onsemi said this leads to reduced parasitic inductance, which in turn improves device control performance and enables higher switching frequencies. It added that in vehicle electrification, it is also aiming for higher switching frequencies based on low inductance.

During development, the company said it shortens design cycles and reduces the number of hardware builds by using digital twin simulation and multiphysics integrated optimization. It presented this as an approach to improve design and manufacturing efficiency.

Onsemi said EPP is not an approach aimed only at improving the performance of individual components. It also pursues integrated optimization of electrical, thermal and mechanical elements within a single platform, with power density improvement as the goal.

Onsemi presented EPP's application areas broadly as vehicle electrification, AI power infrastructure and industries beyond AI and electric vehicles. Among these, it highlighted the creation of smarter and lighter vehicle architectures as a goal in vehicle electrification.

In vehicle electrification, Onsemi said it is pursuing support for compact, lightweight and highly efficient traction inverter systems based on improved thermal performance, while also presenting a concept for addressing various vehicle platforms, matching required power demand and securing scalability.

In AI power infrastructure, the focus is on increasing power density to deliver high computing performance within limited space. The goal is to respond to rising power demand. Higher power density is effective for securing board space and rack space, and thermal conduction that uses the full package also makes it possible to improve thermal efficiency.

This direction is also aimed at supporting compact, highly integrated power-delivery architectures. The concept is to respond to spatial constraints and rising power demand through power density, thermal efficiency and highly integrated power-delivery structures.

The company identified fast-charging infrastructure, energy storage systems (ESS), power-grid modernization, industrial automation and future semiconductor technologies as target applications for this approach. In this way, it broadened the scope beyond AI and electric vehicles.

Onsemi plans to expand EPP from a product-supply model into a strategic technology collaboration model. To this end, it is pursuing a cooperative approach that involves customers from the early design stage, with the goal of supporting next-generation vehicle architectures. Subaru was cited as an example of this collaboration.

In its collaboration with Subaru, Onsemi is supporting customers' technology evaluation by providing engineering samples, simulation models and specialized expertise at an early stage. This collaboration model is based on an integrated approach to power-system design and is intended to simplify development.

Through a strategy to verify EPP's applicability to future vehicle architectures, the company said it will confirm whether the platform can actually be applied to future vehicle structures and, based on that, pursue a strategy to support building next-generation vehicle power systems. Principal FAE Im said the company is taking on a unified architecture-based response with EPP.

He explained that the target of that response is power demand across industries, including vehicle electrification and AI power infrastructure. He also said that, against the backdrop of the spread of AI and electric vehicles, the importance of power density and thermal management is increasing, and that the goal is to overcome limitations in power systems by pursuing an integrated approach that combines not only power semiconductors but also packaging, control and thermal design.

Source: TECHWORLD · Park Gyu-chan
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=407572

References

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