Speaker

Francesco La Via

Research Director - CNR-IMM

Biography

Francesco La Via - Research Director, CNR-IMM

Francesco La Via was born in Catania, Italy, in September 1961. He received the M.S. degree in physics from Catania University, Catania, Italy, in 1985. From 1985 to 1990, he had a fellowship at STM, Catania. In 1990, he joined the CNR IMM in Catania as a researcher. During this time, he was a Visiting Scientist at Philips NatLab, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. In 2001 he became senior researcher of the CNR IMM and he is responsible of the research group that work on the new metallization schemes for silicon and silicon carbide. From 2003 he is responsible of the division of CNR-IMM that developed new processes for silicon carbide epitaxy and hetero-epitaxy. From 2020 he become Research Director. He is responsible of several industrial research projects and coordinator of two European projects: CHALLENGE (http://h2020challenge.eu/) and SiC Nano for picoGeo (http://picogeo.eu/). In this period, he has published more than 350 papers on JCR journals and 4 edited books. He has presented several invited contributions to international conferences and has organized several conferences and tutorials. He has 6 patents on SiC technology and growth. The main research interests are in the field of silicon carbide growth, power devices, detectors and MEMS.

Talk(s)

3:40 PM

Wide Band Gap Pilot Line: a major boost for Europe’s innovation and competitiveness

The European semiconductor industry excels in market segments driven by wide bandgap material capabilities, such as automotive, industrial, and specific telecommunication areas. The growth projections of industry & automotive market segments outperform the growth of the semiconductor industry. Between 2021 and 2030, McKinsey estimated a CAGR of respectively 13% for automotive electronics and 9% for industrial electronics. Through its strong position, the European Union should drive the growth and maturation of WBG material platforms in power and telecommunication applications. A pilot line can help the Union to drive the necessary process, architecture & material innovations from lab to fab effectively. Furthermore, the ultra-wide-band gap (UWBG) semiconductors, e.g., Ga2O3, AlN and diamond, have become the subject of intense research with an expected increasing interest due to the compounds' outstanding physical properties. The goal of the Pilot Line is to significantly expand the competitiveness of the European semiconductors industry by strengthening the entire value chain and enabling a fast adoption of advanced WBG technologies to high-value applications. The first results coming from the WBG pilot line will be the improvement of the efficiency of the high–end portion of the advanced power discrete device portfolio in Europe, and the development of the related value chain based in Europe. The second effect will be the creation of new and very innovative product families based on modern semiconductor materials and power devices having features and performance not covered by the current market. The WBG pilot line will build on the current facilities operating in Finland, Italy, Poland, France, Germany, Austria, and Sweden, where industrial processes will be defined and optimised, and demonstrators will be qualified to be then tested on the market.