ROHM's in-vehicle electronic strategy

Established in 1958, ROHM Semiconductor has been in the industry for many years. Its products include LSI, high-power devices and composite functional devices. Its "one-stop strategic system" was won by Fujimura (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Chairman Fujimura Rei The biggest difference between itself and its competitors. “Rome's production features are vertically integrated manufacturing. In order to ensure product quality and delivery, from raw material procurement, to manufacturing, to final packaging inspection, we are all provided by ourselves,” he said.

ROMC Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Chairman Fujimura Leitai re-planned the automotive strategy In 2004, the consumer appliance market accounted for 84% of Roma's overall business, and the automotive and industrial equipment market accounted for only 16%. However, as the development of the consumer electronics market is saturated, ROHM's key markets are gradually shifting from consumer to automotive and industrial equipment markets. According to data provided by Mr. Sakai, head of the Body and Drive Systems Division of the Automotive Strategy Division of Roma Semiconductors, by 2020, Roma's automotive and industrial equipment business will account for 50% of the total, of which car business accounts for 35%.

As we all know, the automotive market is undergoing tremendous changes with the words “environment”, “safety” and “comfort”. It is necessary to grasp the technological trends derived from environmental standards, safety standards and market requirements in advance, and consider the “future of the car”. As a result, product planning for "semiconductors" and "electronic components" that are required in the future is carried out, and commercialization is realized.

In-vehicle infotainment, ADAS, body control modules and power transmission for xEV will be the four areas that Roma will focus on in the future. in particular:

- In the field of in-vehicle infotainment, with the increasing size and quantity of car LCDs, ROHM will focus on providing reference power for LCD panels, high-definition audio ICs, and Intel and Renesas SoC manufacturers such as electronics jointly develop CPU/reference power ICs. In addition, considering the increased demand for liquid crystal displays such as liquid crystal meters and electronic rearview mirrors, ROHM can provide a chipset that supports functional safety to ensure basic safety instructions when liquid crystal images cannot be displayed.

- In the field of ADAS, in order to accommodate the trend of increasing the number of sensors and shrinking the size, we will focus on signal processing ICs for sonar, power ICs for cameras, power ICs for millimeter wave radars, and MOSFETs for sensors.

- In the field of body control modules, it is expected that all of the car's headlights will use LED light sources in the future. ROHM can provide general-purpose products for LED lamp interaction systems, multi-function LED controller IC+IPD, and in-vehicle communication IC.

- In the field of power transmission, with the development of electrification, the number of some power components will increase greatly. Insulated gate drivers, SiC components, IGBTs and shunt resistors will be the focus of ROHM. Not long ago, for a mild hybrid vehicle equipped with a 48V power supply system, ROHM has also developed the industry's highest step-down ratio (input 60V: output 2.5) that can always operate at 2MHz with the unique ultra-high-speed pulse control technology "Nano Pulse Control". V=24:1) Power supply IC "BD9V100MUF-C". As long as the product is mounted on a 48V power supply system, voltage conversion from the power supply system to the ECU can be realized with only "one power supply IC". The first generation of SiC production, research and research integration determines the generation of power electronics technology. As the world's second hard material, SiC has a breakdown voltage of up to 1700V, a high heat resistance of five times that of silicon, and a lower internal resistance. Due to the high performance of SiC in high voltage and high current, SiC will become a solution for high-power circuits of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles together with gate drivers, as well as all other solutions requiring power control and switching. ROHM is currently the only SiC supplier that can simultaneously implement integrated processes for ingot production, wafer processing and final assembly. SiC-SBD was mass-produced in April 2010, SiC-DMOS was mass-produced in December of the same year, and full SiC modules were mass-produced in March 2012. SiC Trench-MOS was mass-produced in June 2016. “ROHM is the first in the world to achieve mass production of SiC-MOSFET and full SiC power modules,” said Suwon Dejian, Senior Manager of Design Center at ROHM Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. “We developed with unique process technology and analog design technology. Insulated gate drivers are indispensable for maximizing the performance of SiC components. Not only that, but also SiC power solutions such as shunt resistors, not only electric drive systems such as inverters Energy saving, small size and light weight, and even system optimization."

“From silicon to SiC, the material has changed dramatically, the device has been significantly improved, and the device performance has been significantly improved. This is a different level of progress. But the device still does not play its potential because other devices can't keep up. We are still moving forward. We must work with the manufacturers to improve the overall level. In the future, there will be great improvements in electric vehicles, wireless charging, drives, and routers." Zhao Zhengming, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University Said in the cooperation with Roma. He also shared the results of the collaborative research and development with Roma. “In 2008, we used SiC JFETs in power rotation and made some models and drives; in 2012 and 2013, we used SiC diodes in photovoltaic inverters. We and Roma in SiC materials research. Applications include wireless charging and power routers, in which wireless charging has been implemented in the fifth generation, high-power applications such as 30KW, 60KW and 120KW have begun testing; power routers are routing power, photovoltaics, batteries, and charging all by this router. Together, it uses the components of Roma."

Professor Zhao Zhengming, Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University