X-FAB’s XbloX platform accelerates SiC MOSFET development by using pre-qualified modular blocks to reduce design risks and speed up time-to-market.
X-FAB has introduced the XbloX platform, a modular approach that streamlines the development of high-performance silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, offering pre-qualified processes to reduce design risks and shorten prototyping turnaround times. This solution accelerates time-to-market for sectors like automotive and industrial, allowing production to start much faster than conventional methods.
The platform’s third generation, XSICM03, delivers superior efficiency, featuring a 25% reduction in cell pitch that enables significantly more dies per wafer. This combination of technical optimisation and rapid prototyping capability provides a highly scalable solution for next-generation power electronics.
In an exclusive interview for Electronic Specifier, Yon Lee, Director of WBG R&D at X-FAB, emphasised that the platform’s pre-qualified modular blocks drastically simplify the path from design to production, allowing companies to bypass the usual risks of custom development and launch their products up to nine months sooner than traditional foundry models.
The strategic advantages of X-FAB’s XbloX platform
X-FAB has introduced its new XbloX platform, a modular silicon carbide (SiC) technology framework designed to streamline and accelerate the development of custom SiC solutions. The platform gives customers access to a standardised but highly adaptable set of qualified process blocks, making it easier for device engineers to transition from early prototypes to high-volume production.
“XbloX dramatically shortens the engineering planning phase, engineering evaluation and technology release cycles, cutting production start times by as much as nine months compared to traditional development approaches,” Lee said. Its modular architecture delivers consistent, predictable performance while still supporting broad customisation options.
A key advantage of XbloX is its ability to simplify and speed up the integration of custom process technologies. Customers gain access to well-defined design rules, pre-qualified technology modules, and global hotline support – tools that together reduce tape-out times from months to just weeks.
“X-FAB expanded the platform with the launch of XSICM03, our latest generation planar MOSFET technology. XSICM03 enables a smaller cell pitch and improved Ron,sp values, allowing device engineers to achieve more compact, higher cell density SiC designs,” Lee commented.
SiC process technologies overview
XbloX consolidates X-FAB’s full portfolio of qualified SiC process technologies into a modular, production ready platform. X-FAB Texas currently supports flows including Diode, MOSFET, T-MOSFET and JFET architecture across voltage classes from 600V to 6.5kV.
Lee added: “Through XbloX, these technologies are delivered as prequalified process blocks such as core modules, epitaxy options, implant schemes, gate oxide processes, and metallisation variants, allowing design engineers to rapidly configure custom device processes while maintaining predictable device behaviour and high-volume manufacturability.”
XbloX effectively transforms X-FAB’s SiC technology library into a structured, flexible design-integration environment, enabling faster development, faster tape-out, and reduced cycle time from concept to high-volume production.
Maximising value across the SiC production lifecycle
XbloX supports SiC development from initial prototyping to full-scale manufacturing by providing:
- Accelerated engineering evaluations: pre validated process blocks shorten electrical characterisation and early design iteration
- Lower integration and reliability risk: qualified modules such as epitaxy options, implants capabilities, gate oxides, metallisation schemes, are supported by robust control plans and electrical process control monitors (PCM) to ensure stable parametric behaviour
- Seamless scalability: the same process modules used at early development stages transfer directly into volume production, maintaining device consistency maturity across technology
Accelerating SiC time-to-market
Early engagement is critical given the rapid expansion of SiC demand across the automotive, industrial, energy, and data centres sectors. X-FAB accelerates fabless onboarding by providing:
- Prequalified process blocks that eliminate lengthy ground up technology development (see Figure 2)
- An automated onboarding framework that streamlines design integration, PDK-like access, and technology setup
- A global engineering hotline support team for rapid issue resolution and tighter Design–Fab alignment
“Through the XbloX platform, fabless developers can transition from concept to manufacturable SiC designs with significantly reduced lead time while maintaining process stability, reliability, and production consistency,” Lee explained.
Optimising SiC device design and refinement via XbloX
XbloX delivers two primary advantages for SiC device developers:
First of all, with the introduction of a PDK-like Process Installation Kit (PIK), XbloX removes the need for customers to define or develop their own process elements such as design rules and module level integration schemes. These steps are handled directly by X-FAB using pre-validated process blocks, reducing design risk and shortening early development cycles.
Secondly, instead of relying on traditional, customer specific process flows, XbloX places all devices on a scalable, standardised manufacturing platform optimised for high volume throughput.
“This approach is reinforced by X-FAB’s 25+ year track record in automotive grade quality and compliance, including rigorous PPAP discipline and certifications such as ISO 9000, ISO 14001, and IATF16949. The result is a production proven environment that supports consistent performance, stable manufacturability, and rapid ramp up to volume,” Lee said.
Together, these two benefits allow customers to focus on device innovation rather than process creation, while gaining a reliable pathway to high-volume SiC manufacturing, such as the one developed at the Texas facility (see Figure 3), aligned with demanding markets such as automotive, industrial, energy, and data centres.
The role of PIK and pre-validated process blocks
Process Installation Kit (PIK) and X-FAB’s library of pre-developed SiC process blocks provide two major contributions to accelerating and lowering the risk of SiC device development.
First, they substantially reduce the customer’s process-development burden. Because the modules – such as epitaxy, implants, gate oxides, and metallisation – are already characterised, customers do not need to be process-technology experts or invest months developing a custom flow. X-FAB’s 13+ years of direct SiC MOSFET manufacturing and R&D experience are built into these blocks, enabling:
- Greatly reduced internal process development resource requirements
- Faster onboarding and shorter prototyping time-to-market
- Minimal or no technology setup delays
- Fewer design iterations, supported by guard-banded design rules that prevent layout-induced process issues
Second, the PIK and process blocks establish a highly stable, production-proven foundation that lowers development risk and improves long-term device reliability. This includes:
- Process stability and reliability screening built into the modules
- Reduced process-related reliability failures through qualification and continuous monitoring
- Access to X-FAB’s ongoing development roadmap, ensuring customers are informed as new XbloX modules are released
“Together, the PIK and X-FAB’s validated SiC process blocks give developers a ready-to-use technology platform that accelerates early learning cycles, minimises design-process interaction risks, and provides a clear path to reliable, scalable SiC manufacturing,” Lee commented.
Strategic efficiency in SiC foundries to reduce planning latency
XbloX shortens the planning phase by leveraging standardised, pre-validated process infrastructure that eliminates the long definition and setup cycles typical of custom SiC technology development.
From a process-integration standpoint, the reduction comes from three core factors:
1. Standardised, pre-defined process blocks
Instead of starting with a blank slate, customers begin with SiC modules whose layer stacks and integration processes are already validated in production. This removes the need for lengthy joint development cycles and dramatically reduces early-stage design-process alignment work.
2. Removal of validation and development bottlenecks
- Pre-qualified SiC process modules eliminate the months typically required for unit-process development and qualification
- PCM (Process Control Monitor) structures and test routines are already built and characterised, providing immediate parametric visibility
- Layer-to-layer alignment tolerances are fully characterised and built into the design rules, preventing design-induced process issues
- Control plans are automatically generated, replacing manual planning and cross-team iteration
3. Automated onboarding and process flow generation
Automated workflows integrate design layers with the established process flow, removing the large planning burden usually placed on customer and foundry integration teams. Conventional approaches require extensive back-and-forth to define each step; XbloX compresses this by providing a complete, ready-to-use flow.
Under traditional custom development, creating a new SiC technology requires continuous interaction with the foundry’s integration and unit-process teams, often extending planning into multi-month cycles. With XbloX, the planning timeline contracts dramatically because:
- The technology setup is already complete
- Unit-process development is minimised or unnecessary
- Design-rule guard-bands reduce iteration loops
- Critical reliability and stability screens are pre-established
Lee added: “Together, these factors reduce the front-end planning phase to roughly one-sixth of the time required by conventional, ground-up SiC process development – enabling much faster entry into prototyping and subsequent production ramp-up.”
Integrating quality and business systems via XbloX
Once customers finalise their block selections in the system, XbloX automatically generates a complete, end-to-end process flow that incorporates manufacturing routing, QA elements, business workflows, and commercial requirements. This automation ensures the flow is fully aligned with X-FAB’s operational systems, eliminating the manual coordination and overhead typically required in custom technology setup.
Under the hood, the XbloX workflow is built on a unified database architecture: all technology data is stored in a structured format and linked directly to the core organisational pillars – business, technology, operations, and quality. This interconnected data model allows XbloX to embed control plans, quality checkpoints, process routing, documentation, and commercial rules directly into the generated flow.
“The result is a coherent, compliant, and production-ready process structure that seamlessly integrates technical and business requirements while significantly reducing effort for the customer,” Lee explained.
Considerations to keep in mind
Accelerating SiC production by up to nine months enables design teams to enter emerging markets earlier, secure key design wins, and capture revenue long before slower competitors can respond.
The accelerated timeline lowers development costs and risk by shortening SiC learning cycles, reducing design test iterations, and preventing products from becoming obsolete prior to market release.
“This early access to SiC also accelerates feedback, yield optimisation, and innovation, giving our customers a sustained competitive edge in rapidly scaling markets such as EVs, renewable energy, and data centre power systems,” Lee underlined.
Customers receive comprehensive support through X-FAB’s hotline support, which provides guidance on block selection, deployment strategy, mask tooling, and engagement rules to ensure a smooth and consistent onboarding process.
This is reinforced by direct access to X-FAB’s Technology Integration teams and both local and global design support organisations, giving customers hands-on assistance throughout configuration, layout, and implementation. Together, these coordinated support channels enable rapid, well-aligned adoption of XbloX process blocks with minimal integration risk.
The launch of XbloX marks a fundamental shift in how SiC technologies are industrialised. By integrating standardised process blocks, scalable manufacturing infrastructure, and automated workflow generation, XbloX transforms SiC development from a slow, highly customised effort into a predictable, accelerated, and resource-efficient pipeline.
Lee added: “This allows customers to move from concept to production with unprecedented speed – often months faster than traditional paths – while maintaining consistency, manufacturability, and long-term reliability.”
Just as importantly, XbloX is built on X-FAB’s decades-long foundation in automotive-grade quality and technology maturity. With more than 25 years of experience meeting strict automotive requirements, X-FAB has embedded quality discipline, PPAP compliance, structured control plans, and PCM-driven process monitoring directly into the XbloX ecosystem.
“This ensures that every module, process flow, and technology block is validated not only for performance but also for long-term reliability, operational robustness, and scalability into high-volume production,” Lee explained.
Together, these capabilities position X-FAB not only as a foundry provider but as a strategic enabler – supporting customers as they deploy next-generation SiC solutions into rapidly growing applications such as EV traction inverters, renewable-energy power stages, industrial drives, and hyperscale data centres.
“With XbloX, customers gain a platform that accelerates development, strengthens quality, and enables competitive differentiation in markets where speed, reliability, and innovation are essential,” Lee concluded.
