Semiconductors
Key semiconductor technology trends for data centres and automotives
By Leo Charlton, technology analyst, and Dr. Yu-Han Chang and Dr. James Jeffs, senior technology analysts at IDTechEx
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t is now nearly impossible to live without semiconductors. Semiconductors are employed in practically every device that powers our digital lives, including consumer electronics, automotive, telecom infrastructure, data centres, and so on. The technology requirement of semiconductors varies based on the kind of application, and as a result, the semiconductor development trend for each application differs. In a recent whitepaper released by IDTechEx, ‘Key Semiconductor Technology Trends for Data Centers and Automotives’, trends within two application areas – automotive and data centre – are explored.
Semiconductors for future vehicles: How the demand for autonomy drives the changes in semiconductor supply chain
Semiconductors have long been important for the automotive industry. The automobile industry accounts for around 10 per cent of total semiconductor demand. Previously this has been mostly handled by the automotive focused tier 2s such as Infineon, NXP, and ST Microelectronics. Many of these companies have their own fabrication facilities and are well-versed in manufacturing microcontrollers (MCUs) using mature technologies, mostly 40nm and above.
In addition to the need for MCUs to be reliable (given that they control many basic functions in a vehicle), as well as cheap (given that new cars typically contain more than 40 MCUs), developments in semiconductor technology within the automotive industry is largely being driven by a focus on improving safety throughout the transportation system, particularly with regards pedestrian protection. To do this, they are turning towards automated technologies. There is also a pull from customers to have higher levels of automation within a vehicle to provide convenience. Whether the drive is to improve safety or provide better, more relaxed driving experiences, automated vehicles bring a new set of semiconductor requirements that
38 May 2023
might shake up the current supply chain. One example of this is the new semiconductor technologies required in LiDAR. LiDARs are a key component in vehicles that are SAE level 3 and above, meaning that under certain conditions, the driver can stop paying attention to the road. Nearly all vehicles sold today are level 2 or below, and so LiDAR is not yet widely adopted. However, with the benefits it can bring to pedestrian safety and the emergence of level 3 vehicles in multiple countries worldwide, LiDAR adoption is likely to grow significantly over the next ten years. Semiconductor technology in vehicles is currently almost entirely based on silicon, but LiDAR currently uses more costly materials. While the photodetectors for 905nm near- infrared LiDARs, which currently dominate those deployed in vehicles, can be made with silicon, the lasers and laser drivers are normally made with gallium arsenide and gallium nitride, respectively. LiDARs operating in the 1550nm shortwave infrared band, on the other hand, require indium phosphide lasers and Indium gallium arsenide detectors. GaAs has previously been used for automotive radar, but
Components in Electronics
now most radar uses silicon-germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS technologies, shifting toward silicon CMOS. Otherwise, none of these materials have had much of a place in automotive applications before. LiDAR and automation, therefore, represent a new opportunity for these materials.
Before LiDAR, there was radar. And, not to be forgotten, radar is also changing its semiconductor requirements. Radar has been used in the automotive industry for over 20 years now. Its distancing and velocity measuring abilities have made it the ideal sensor in adaptive cruise control systems, where the vehicle automatically maintains a safe gap to the vehicle ahead. However, as demands for more sophisticated advanced driver assistance systems, automated driving systems, and pedestrian safety have all grown, radar-poor imaging performance has become a bottleneck. Increasing the performance of automotive radar has meant adopting more advanced semiconductor technologies. 90nm SiGe BiCMOS has been the go-to technology for around a decade. The latest versions of these radars can provide 12 virtual channels,
which has been sufficient, but to improve performance tier 1s are starting to deploy 4D imaging radars with 192 virtual channels, and some are moving to radars with over 2,000 virtual channels. These radars don’t use 90nm SiGe BiCMOS; 4D imaging radars will typically use several transceivers (to build up the number of channels) based on Si RFCMOS technologies that are normally below 45nm. The latest generation for tier 2 suppliers uses 28nm technologies, while start-ups go as low as 22nm. There is a problem with this though, from a tier 2 standpoint; the use of these node technologies goes beyond most tier 2s in-house capabilities.
A common strategy is to outsource production to a foundry service, such as Global Foundries and TSMC. This is where bottlenecks in production can arise, as these foundries are commonly at capacity and focused on producing chips to be used across many consumer electronics applications. The requirements of LiDAR and radar are moving outside what the conventional tier 2s are capable of fabricating, which will lead to more outsourcing from the tier 2s to
www.cieonline.co.uk.uk
Figure 1: Semiconductor-dependant components found in autonomous electric vehicles. Source: IDTechEx – “Semicon- ductors for Autonomous and Electric Vehicles 2023-2033”
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