Axcelis Targets $11B SiC Market with Breakthrough Superjunction Tech at ICSCRM

BEVERLY, Mass. – September 21, 2026 — The global transition toward electrified transport and hyper-dense artificial intelligence data centers has created an insatiable demand for power electronics capable of handling extreme voltages. At the center of this transformation is silicon carbide, a wide-bandgap material that is rapidly replacing traditional silicon in high-voltage applications. Yet, processing this notoriously stubborn material remains one of the semiconductor industry's most complex hurdles.

Axcelis Technologies, a long-standing supplier of ion implantation solutions, is stepping directly into the crosshairs of this manufacturing bottleneck. The company recently announced its sponsorship and technical participation in the 23rd International Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials (ICSCRM 2026), set for September 28 to October 2 in Yokohama, Japan. Beyond a standard corporate showcase, the Massachusetts-based manufacturer is preparing to unveil technical breakthroughs that address the most persistent yield and reliability problems plaguing next-generation power semiconductor fabrication.

"We are excited to participate in ICSCRM 2026, one of the premier technology forums for the power device market," said Dr. Russell Low, President and CEO of Axcelis. "As a world leader in ion implantation solutions for power devices, Axcelis is proud to support this dynamic market with our Purion Power Series+ platform, which delivers enabling, highly differentiated capabilities and advanced process control. Ion implantation is one of the most critical steps in manufacturing silicon carbide devices, a market Yole Group estimates will reach $11 billion by 2031, growing at a 20% CAGR from 2025 to 2031."

Cracking the 1200V Superjunction Bottleneck

The physics of unipolar power devices dictate an uncomfortable trade-off: as breakdown voltage increases, the on-resistance of the device typically scales superlinearly. To overcome this "unipolar limit," semiconductor physicists rely on superjunction structures, which interleave alternating n-type and p-type columns within the drift layer. This lateral charge compensation allows chipmakers to drastically increase doping, slashing specific on-resistance and die size by up to 70 percent for 1200-volt applications and beyond.

However, translating this elegant physics concept into high-volume silicon carbide manufacturing has historically been a logistical nightmare. Unlike traditional silicon, where dopants can be thermally diffused at elevated temperatures, dopants in silicon carbide are virtually immobile. Historically, forming deep vertical p-pillars required multiple tedious cycles of thin epitaxy growth followed by shallow ion implantation. This multi-epitaxy approach demands five to ten iterations, resulting in abysmal throughput, heightened risk of alignment errors, and prohibitive fab costs.

At ICSCRM 2026, Axcelis technologists will present a radical departure from this legacy method. Their research on the manufacturability of single-epitaxy step 1200V superjunction pillars centers on the use of channeling ion implantation. Leveraging the high-energy capabilities of the Purion XE+ and XEmax platforms—which can push energies up to 15 MeV—engineers can direct ions precisely along the open crystallographic axes of the silicon carbide lattice.

This channeling technique allows ions to travel deep into the lattice without undergoing hard nuclear scattering, penetrating over seven micrometers in a single step. By eliminating the multi-epitaxy cycles, the process significantly reduces wafer crystal damage and dramatically lowers the cost-of-ownership for manufacturing high-voltage superjunction metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors.

Defect Suppression and the Annealing Synergy

Beyond deep pillar implantation, Axcelis is tackling the phenomenon of bipolar degradation, a critical reliability issue in power devices. Basal plane dislocations, originating from the substrate, can convert into Shockley stacking faults under the high electron-hole plasma injection typical of a functioning device. The expansion of these faults causes irreversible forward voltage drift and catastrophic leakage, severely derating the lifetime of the component.

One of the company's key presentations in Yokohama will detail how substrate implantation can suppress the expansion of these stacking faults in epitaxial layers. By co-engineering the implantation at the substrate-buffer interface with targeted thermal treatments, engineers can immobilize dislocations before they penetrate the drift layer.

This focus on thermal treatment highlights another strategic maneuver for Axcelis: its pending $4.4 billion merger of equals with Veeco Instruments, announced in late 2025 and expected to close in the second half of 2026. Creating ultra-low-resistance ohmic contacts in a wide-bandgap material like silicon carbide requires enormous dopant doses. If the implantation energy is too high, it damages the surface, leading to carbon cluster formation during high-temperature annealing.

Axcelis's upcoming presentation on contact engineering via implantation-annealing co-optimization perfectly illustrates the synergy of the Veeco merger. By pairing Axcelis's heated implantation parameters with Veeco's laser spike annealing technology, the combined entity will offer a unified toolchain capable of superior dopant activation while preserving delicate surface morphologies.

Navigating Geopolitics and Market Dominance

The backdrop of ICSCRM 2026 is as much about regional market dominance as it is about technical innovation. Currently, Axcelis holds an estimated 70 to 80 percent market share in silicon carbide ion implantation. This commanding lead is primarily driven by the capital intensity of the process, which is roughly five times that of traditional silicon power fabrication.

Despite facing pressure from industry giants like Applied Materials and regional specialists like Japan's Nissin Ion Equipment, Axcelis has maintained its moat by offering a complete, purpose-engineered single-wafer ecosystem. The company's recent financial performance reflects this entrenched position. In the second quarter of 2026, revenue reached $215.2 million, a 10.6 percent year-over-year increase, with the power semiconductor segment accounting for nearly 40 percent of its shipped systems revenue.

Yet, the geographic distribution of these revenues reveals a shifting global landscape. While China represented 46 percent of total revenue in the second quarter—down from a peak of 55 percent the previous year—South Korea surged to 26 percent. Furthermore, the decision to showcase these breakthroughs in Yokohama is highly strategic. Japanese power semiconductor manufacturers, including industry stalwarts like ROHM, Renesas, and Mitsubishi Electric, are actively revitalizing their domestic fabrication capabilities and accelerating their transition to 200-millimeter wafers.

By presenting solutions that directly lower the cost and complexity of 200-millimeter silicon carbide fabrication, Axcelis is positioning its Purion platforms right at the heart of Asia's power device renaissance. As the automotive industry pushes toward 800-volt architectures and artificial intelligence infrastructure demands ever-higher power density, the ability to efficiently manufacture defect-free, high-voltage silicon carbide will dictate the pace of the next technological era.