December 2019 – MOSFETs in high demand

Published on: 13/12/2019

Semiconductor manufacturers are increasing production but it won’t be enough to reduce lead times until Q1 2020 at the earliest

After a surge in demand for MOSFETs in 2018, semiconductor manufacturers are adding more capacity of metal oxide semiconductor field emitting transistors (MOSFETs) has significantly increased but it is forecasted that supply will remain tight at least until early next year.

Increased demand for Power MOSFETs

The increase in demand has been evident from a wide range of customer segments, especially automotive and industrial. MOSFETs are used to switch and amplify electronic signals in electronics equipment. They provide a very high input impedance and are able to be used in very low current circuits. They are widely used in switch mode power supplies, variable frequency drives, lighting intensity controls, motor controls and home and automobile sound systems.

The strong demand and limited capacity for MOSFETs means that prices are likely to increase and lead times are now stretched out to 30+ weeks depending on the product and manufacturer. One of the reasons supply remains tight on MOSFETs is because they are built on 150mm and 200mm wafer production lines. Whereas other chips such as display drivers, microcontrollers and mixed signal semiconductors are also built on the same lines so there’s not enough capacity to go around.

So far one manufacturer has moved to 300mm wafers instead of 150mm or 200mm. Infineon has been making chips on 300mm wafers for several years at its facility in Dresden (Germany) and plans to start construction of a new 300mm facility in 2019 in Austria, however production will not start until 2021.

With larger size wafers semiconductor manufacturers are able to produce more chips per wafer which will increase their supply. Over the next five years it is predicted that more manufacturers will follow suit and produce MOSFETs on 300mm wafers.

GD Rectifiers is an authorised distributor for IXYS and Semikron MOSFETs. Their extensive range of IXYS MOSFETs includes: Trench MOSFETs, TrenchT2 MOSFETs, Polar MOSFETs, PolarP2 MOSFETs, PolarP3 HiPerFETs, X-Class Power MOSFETs, SiC MOSFETs, Q3-Class HiPerFETs, Very High Voltage Power MOSFETs, Linear2 Power MOSFETs, Depletion-Mode MOSFETs, PolarP MOSFETs, TrenchP P-Channel MOSFETs, CoolMOS, MOSFET Modules and ISOPLUS i4-PAC.

GD Rectifiers distributes Semikron’s complete range of MOSFETs, including their range of Semitrans and Semitop MOSFET power modules.

For further information on MOSFETs or to discuss an enquiry with our team, please call: 01444 243 452 or email: enquiries@gdrectifiers.co.uk.