On February 23, SCT was invited to attend the China International Automotive Electronics Summit Forum. Deputy General Manager Liang Junfeng shared insights on "Systematic Automotive Power Solutions." The concept of "systematic" not only refers to a more comprehensive product system but also includes SCT's long-term technological accumulation in the automotive power domain, forming a well-established technological reserve. Below is the full text:

Each breakthrough in semiconductors is accompanied by technological revolutions and market shifts. From computers to smartphones, to smart wearables, every emerging industry brings with it a vast growing market for power chips. Where will the next decade’s growth come from? Smart vehicles, smart homes, virtual reality, quantum computing, and autonomous driving are all predictable emerging markets.

Globally, authoritative organizations predict chip growth trends across multiple industries from 2020 to 2026. Among these, the CAGR for automotive electronics is 9%, the fastest-growing market. Over the past decade, China’s new energy vehicles have been focused on internal development, but in just the last two years, they have experienced explosive growth, blooming everywhere. For Chinese car buyers, the demand for intelligence has risen to third place, and they are among the most technology-demanding users worldwide.

As new energy vehicles evolve with electrification, intelligence, sharing, and connectivity, automotive electronics architectures have transitioned from distributed to domain-control-based structures, and will further evolve into centralized control. This will lead to an increasing demand for computational power. As a result, automotive power systems will face challenges, including increasing board power, higher power density requirements, better thermal management, and the need to effectively avoid device interference.

SCT has established six key technological directions to address these challenges:

1. Density: SCT chooses the industry's most advanced production processes and packaging technologies to achieve higher power density, efficiency, and larger power output in limited spaces, along with excellent heat dissipation.

2. Safety: Safety is the primary consideration in vehicle purchasing decisions. To cope with the complex application environment of automotive electronics, SCT continuously develops a large number of patented technologies for automotive power systems. For example, the minimum charge pump technology effectively protects chips and secondary power systems under extreme battery voltage changes, and the over-voltage protection patent in pass-through mode effectively controls output voltage fluctuations under wide battery variations.

3. Efficiency: SCT uses second-generation ultra-low static power ULQ technology, achieving 80% efficiency at 1mA load and more than 85% efficiency at 10mA load, meeting automotive requirements for parked time, with light-load efficiency at an internationally advanced level.

4. Ease of Use: SCT optimizes control technology and integrates designs, using fewer components to meet design requirements, optimally arranging component pins, and optimizing PCB layout to simplify loop control, making it easier for customers to complete power designs.

5. Cleanliness: With increasing input currents, radiation is an unavoidable challenge in automotive development. SCT uses multiple gate drive technologies to achieve switch ringing-free operation, symmetrical layouts to cancel radiation interference, and flip-chip packaging technology to reduce parasitic parameters and further decrease radiation energy. These combined technologies provide market-leading EMI handling capability.

6. Reliability: SCT strictly controls the entire design, manufacturing, and management process. Technically, SCT continuously deepens its expertise, with a dedicated SQE team ensuring stringent manufacturing process control, and a specialized testing team developing production test procedures. SCT has received IATF16949 compliance certification and has initiated ISO26262 functional safety certification with TÜV Rheinland, providing high-quality automotive power products to the market through systematic management.

SCT focuses on power conversion and power control, providing more choices for customers through the development of a full series of products. It also collaborates with leading companies to jointly define new products. As a domestic semiconductor enterprise, SCT's core competitive advantage lies in its ability to rapidly iterate products to better meet the needs of Chinese enterprises.

Currently, SCT offers six major product lines and services:

1. Complete System Switching Power Conversion Chips: Provides comprehensive power conversion solutions, suitable for a variety of automotive scenarios, supporting efficient power conversion.

2. Linear Power LDO: SCT offers LDOs with lower static current. With current foldback protection technology, it supports direct output of 40V hard short-circuit protection without damage, achieving high reliability at the international top level.

3. Power Control: SCT has pioneered the introduction of automotive-grade boost controllers (currently under certification), supporting various topologies such as boost conversion, buck-boost conversion, and isolated power output, meeting the diverse functional needs of automotive applications.

4. Power Path Management: SCT's ideal diodes adopt advanced isolation technology, enabling fast reverse protection and providing reverse connection protection functionality.

5. System Integration PMIC: Implements temperature management, noise management, and efficiency management in sealed environments, meeting the requirements of the automotive sector.

6. Power Modules: Integrates power devices and chips to achieve extreme power density, suitable for automotive power systems requiring compact designs.

The SCT246X, launched in 2022, is the latest 40V/6A DC-DC buck converter chip, using a symmetrical layout and capable of paralleling two chips to output 12A, making customer designs simpler. With numerous patented technologies, it meets customers' pursuit of product performance and has been applied in various automotive scenarios.

With the development of future smart cabins, which integrate a wide range of functions, there is increasing demand for more categories and functions of automotive power systems. Customers no longer want "point" solutions but need systematic solution providers to avoid the problems that arise from having too many suppliers, including quality, delivery, management, and pricing.

In 2021, SCT defined a three-year strategic plan, focusing on the new energy vehicle application to build core competitiveness and achieve sustainable, high-quality growth. By 2023, SCT had achieved over 70% coverage in automotive power management, meeting ADAS, smart cabin, body control, and power system requirements, offering one-stop complete power solutions to automotive manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers.

SCT has already achieved mass production of second-generation primary automotive power, incorporating the aforementioned patented technologies. Third-generation products are also under development, featuring faster dynamic responses and advanced packaging to address chip heating issues. More technological highlights are expected in the future.

As a guest speaker, Liang Junfeng also shared his thoughts on the automotive electronics sector.

Question: What unique demands do the rise and rapid growth of smart cabins in new energy vehicles place on automotive power systems, and where do the challenges come from?

Compared to traditional car cabins, smart cabins create a new integrated digital platform for in-car interaction and enhanced driving safety, typically using high-power processors. This raises higher requirements for automotive power solutions, especially for 40V primary power, in three aspects:

1. Higher power density and heat dissipation: Challenges primarily arise from process technology and advanced packaging. SCT employs industry-leading 0.18μm medium-voltage processes to achieve 6A output current in a 3.5mm × 4mm area. It innovatively enables dual-chip simple paralleling to output 12A, aiding the platform design of smart cabins. SCT also uses advanced flip-chip packaging to greatly reduce thermal resistance and enhance heat dissipation capabilities.

2. Higher light-load efficiency: With the increase in power-consuming devices inside the smart cabin, the automotive manufacturers' input current requirements have not changed, so they demand very high light-load efficiency from the primary power system. SCT uses second-generation patented ULQ technology and external bias supply methods, achieving more than 80% efficiency at a 1mA load.

3. Better EMI handling capability: With the growing current demands, EMI has become a major design challenge. SCT has put significant effort into technological innovations: multi-step gate drive technology for switch ring-free operation, symmetric layouts to cancel radiation interference, and flip-chip packaging to reduce parasitic parameters and further decrease radiation energy. These innovations combine to provide optimal EMI handling.

Question: In the automotive electronics sector, the power management chip and DC-DC converter market have maintained rapid growth, but it seems dominated by European and American companies. What suggestions do you have to change this situation?

European and American companies have been deeply involved in the automotive industry for decades and lead in product categories and process technology. Changing this situation will take time. However, thanks to the significant trend toward localization in the automotive industry, an increasing number of automotive manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers are opening their doors to domestic companies. To increase the market share of domestic semiconductors, two strategies can be pursued:

1. In the short term: Offer products that replace and outperform European and American manufacturers, allowing customers to achieve better performance by merely replacing chips without changing the overall board design. This approach can replace European and American products in a relatively short time.

2. In the mid-to-long term: As China’s new energy vehicle industry is now internationally leading, domestic semiconductors are closer to domestic automotive needs, making it easier to develop new products based on customer requirements. By rapidly iterating products to meet automotive demands, domestic companies can overtake European and American manufacturers.

In many advanced process technology and high-functional safety application scenarios, domestic semiconductors still have a long way to go. We need to steadily catch up and surpass European and American products step by step.