ZF has signed a multi-year supply agreement, beginning 2025, with STMicroelectronics for silicon carbide devices. Under the contract, ST will supply a volume of tens of millions of silicon carbide devices which will be integrated in ZF’s new modular inverter architecture going into series production in 2025.
ZF will leverage ST’s vertically integrated silicon carbide manufacturing in Europe and Asia to secure customer orders in electromobility. The silicon carbide chips will be manufactured at the company’s production facilities in Italy and Singapore before the chips are packaged into STPAK, an ST-developed advanced package. Testing will then be conducted at ST’s back-end facilities in Morocco and China.
ST will begin delivering in 2025 its third-generation silicon carbide MOSFET devices to ZF which will then connect varying numbers of the devices together to suit customer performance requirements without changing the component’s design. The technology is set to be used in inverters for a European OEM’s vehicle which is scheduled to enter production in 2025.
“Our order book in electromobility until 2030 now amounts to more than €30bn (US$33bn). For this volume, we need several reliable suppliers for silicon carbide devices,” said Stephan von Schuckmann, member of the ZF board of management responsible for electromobility and materials management. “In STMicroelectronics, we now have a supplier whose experience with complex systems meets our requirements and who, above all, can produce the devices in exceptionally high quality and at the required quantities.”
“As a vertically integrated company, we are investing heavily to expand capacity and develop our silicon carbide supply chain to support our global and European customers across automotive and industrial sectors, as they pursue electrification and decarbonization targets,” commented Marco Monti, president Automotive and Discrete Group, STMicroelectronics.
“The key to success in electric vehicle technology is greater scalability and modularity with increased efficiency, peak power and affordability. Our silicon carbide technologies help deliver these benefits and we are proud to work with ZF, a leading automotive supplier for electrification, to help them differentiate and optimize the performance of their inverters.”