IN Brief:
- Soitec will supply 300mm Power-SOI substrates to ZenSemi for BCD-on-SOI process development.
- The platform targets integrated high-voltage and low-voltage power ICs for AI, EV, robotics, and industrial systems.
- Power semiconductor manufacturing is shifting towards substrate-enabled integration, functional safety, and higher device density.
Soitec and ZenSemi have formed a strategic collaboration to scale 300mm BCD-on-SOI production for next-generation power electronics.
Soitec will supply advanced 300mm Power-SOI substrates to ZenSemi, supporting development and capacity ramp-up for a Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS on Silicon-on-Insulator process. The platform is aimed at power ICs used in AI data centres, electric vehicles, humanoid robots, battery management systems, energy storage, and industrial equipment.
BCD technology allows high-voltage power stages, analogue circuitry, and low-voltage logic to be integrated on the same chip. Moving the architecture onto SOI adds dielectric isolation, reducing parasitic effects, electrical crosstalk, and latch-up risk in devices where thermal behaviour, switching noise, functional safety, and compact layout all influence reliability.
ZenSemi has validated the approach on an 18-channel analogue front-end device, where the SOI-based implementation delivered around 30% die-size reduction compared with traditional bulk BCD processes. The companies expect the platform to support smaller and more robust power ICs once production moves into higher volume.
The collaboration gives Soitec another route for its engineered substrate portfolio in automotive, industrial, edge AI, and cloud infrastructure. It also reflects a wider change in power semiconductor design, where the substrate, process architecture, package, and application requirements are becoming harder to separate.
Power electronics has entered a more demanding phase of integration. AI infrastructure is driving high-current power delivery closer to processors, while EVs and storage systems require battery monitoring, functional safety, high-voltage isolation, and long service life. Robotics adds compact electromechanical systems where motor control, sensing, and power conversion have to work inside restricted form factors without introducing avoidable thermal or electromagnetic problems.
The same movement is visible across wide-bandgap and power-device manufacturing. ROHM’s work with AIXTRON on 8-inch GaN-on-silicon production is tightening control over epitaxy for high-efficiency power devices, while Infineon’s CoolGaN selection for BRC Solar optimisers shows how semiconductor choice is increasingly tied to converter architecture rather than direct component substitution.
BCD-on-SOI occupies a different position from GaN or SiC, but the underlying pressure is similar. System designers need more power density, better isolation, lower losses, compact integration, and stable long-life operation across automotive, energy, industrial, and compute applications. Mixed-signal power ICs are expected to carry more functions while reducing board area and simplifying qualification.
The move to 300mm manufacturing is also central to the project. Wider wafer formats can improve economics and support higher-volume applications, but only when yield, substrate quality, process stability, and customer qualification move together. Specialty power processes do not benefit from scale unless the manufacturing flow remains consistent enough for safety-critical and industrial products.
Smaller power ICs with stronger isolation and reduced parasitics can simplify layouts, reduce external component count, and improve system robustness. As AI, EV, energy storage, and robotics designs place more stress on the power chain, substrate-enabled integration is becoming one of the routes by which semiconductor suppliers can deliver higher performance without simply adding complexity at board level.
