Innovative technology reducing CO₂ in traffic

“Embedding Power MOSFETs will open a new chapter of possibilities for the electrification of mild hybrid cars,” said Dr Rolf Merte, CEO at Schweizer Electronic. “The fact that one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers has chosen our technology confirms its potential.” 

With chip embedding, the Power MOSFETs are no longer soldered onto a circuit board but integrated within.

Dr Frank Findeis, who is heading Infineon’s automotive MOSFET business, said: “The resulting thermal benefits allow a higher power density and board integration enables further improvements in system reliability. These advantages result in higher power or more cost effective 48V systems.”

As a first application, Continental Powertrain has decided to implement the new technology in a 48V starter generator for vehicles from a major European carmaker.

Dietmar Vogt, System Technical Project Leader at Continental Powertrain, said: “Chip embedding allows us to increase electrical power by 60 percent compared to a traditionally designed system.”

The 48V starter generators are a key contributor to the CO₂ reduction of up to about 15% achieved by a mild hybrid vehicle compared to a conventional drive train. They allow the engine to be stopped more often and for a longer duration than a 12V based start-stop-system. Furthermore they can boost acceleration and thus reduce load on the combustion engine. During braking they recover more of the kinetic energy than a 12V system.

Infineon contributes its leading MOSFET technology OptiMOS5 to the new approach, Schweizer its embedding power PCB technology called Smart p² Pack. The partners plan to start mass production in 2021.