Axcelis Announces Joint Development Program with GE Aerospace For the Development of High Voltage Superjunction Power Devices

Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACLS), a leading supplier of enabling ion implantation solutions for the semiconductor industry, announced a Joint Development Program (JDP) with GE Aerospace focused on the development of production-worthy 6.5 to 10kV superjunction power devices. Processes will be developed on Axcelis' Purion XEmax high energy implanter, which provides the industry's highest beam currents over the broadest energy range — up to 15MeV.

This JDP supports the 'Advanced High Voltage Silicon Carbide Switches' project led by GE Aerospace as part of the Commercial Leap Ahead for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors (CLAWS) Hub, which is headed by North Carolina State University. This project will aim to improve the performance of power switches used in important emerging applications.

Silicon Carbide (SiC) wide bandgap semiconductors deliver higher voltages, operating temperatures and frequencies compared to traditional Silicon (Si) devices. These semiconductor devices are enabling for many applications in the aerospace and defense sector through reduced power consumption and smaller packaging of critical systems. On the commercial side, high voltage wide bandgap semiconductors are expected to play an important role in emerging critical technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autonomous vehicles and a more resilient power grid.

President and CEO Russell Low commented, "We are proud to collaborate with GE Aerospace in this endeavor, which has the potential to accelerate superjunction technology adoption. Axcelis is committed to providing equipment and process expertise that enables our customers' superjunction device roadmaps."

Axcelis' Purion XEmax provides maximum flexibility in energy ranges to optimize the profile in depth and concentration, enables a more cost-effective approach by reducing the number of application steps, and excels in channeling over 7µm of aluminum implanted depth.

GE Aerospace, through its Research Center in Niskayuna, NY, has built up a world-leading IP portfolio in SiC technologies over more than three decades and sells SiC- based electric power products today through its Electrical Power business to support the avionics and electrical systems aboard commercial aircraft and ground vehicles. More recently, GE Aerospace researchers have been focusing SiC developments to enable future flight operations in more extreme operating environments such as with hypersonic vehicles and space travel, and to support developments with electric propulsion.

Dr. Ljubisa Stevanovic, chief engineer at GE Aerospace Research, stated: "High voltage SiC power devices are an important enabler for a wide array of critical emerging applications and future endeavors, including hypersonic travel, electric propulsion, and space exploration. We are excited to partner with Axcelis on this project, due to their expertise in ion implantation for Silicon Carbide power devices, and their market leading portfolio of Purion high energy ion implanters."

Axcelis | www.axcelis.com