碳化矽晶體成長技術之專利布局研究

Abstract

隨著全球環保意識的抬頭，各國政府政策與全球業者的未來產品發展也紛紛朝綠色靠攏，節省資源的使用與降低能源的耗費則是達到綠色環保的主要途徑。其中碳化矽(Silicon Carbide, SiC)為第三代半導體材料，為最有可能取代矽(Si)材料的明日之星。然而高品質SiC上游材料的不易獲得使得下游應用元件製造成本居高不下，影響了市場的開展，因此，開發晶體成長技術，取得低成本且品質優良的SiC晶體，為拓展SiC應用市場的關鍵所在。我國政府亦已著手推動SiC晶種昇華法相關晶體成長技術之開發，並以投入產業競爭為最終目標，有必要了解將會遭遇何種競爭對手及何種專利布局之威脅。 本研究由「專利整體趨勢分析」、「專利技術面分析」、「專利申請策略分析」、「授權及併購分析」以及「專利訴訟分析」等五個分析構面，以專利資訊為主，產業資訊為輔，推展出目前SiC晶體成長技術之專利布局狀況。 研究結果摘要為：(1)市場參與者少，專利規模與市場競爭實力未具有絕對關係，Cree在市場佔有率、專利數量及專利品實上皆居領導地位；(2)晶體品質有待提昇，技術難度高，突破不易；(3)晶體成長技術被各家視為競爭泉源，現階段不以專利權為主要保護方式及競爭手段，而以拓展市場為首要目標；(4)4”晶體的開發有效降低成本，市場接受度及需求逐漸增加，推測未來在專利數量及專利權人數有急遽成長之可能，專利訴訟可能性亦隨之增加。

Along with the rise of awareness in environmental protection, governmental policies of all countries, as well as the development of future products by business people around the world are becoming greener. The main method in reaching green and environmental is to save the usage of resources and reduce the energy consumption. Silicon Carbide (SiC), the third generation of semi-conducting materials, is most likely to replace Si materials in the future. However, high quality upper stream SiC material is not easy to acquire, which results in the high price of production of lower stream components. The market development is thus affected. Therefore, developing crystal growth technique, acquiring SiC with a low price and good quality is the key to developing SiC application market. Our government has also urged the development of crystal development technique related to SiC crystal sublimation. Their ultimate goal is to focus on competitiveness. It is necessary to know what kind of competition and patent arrangement threat is ahead. This research defines five aspects of analytical approaches - “Overall trend analysis of patent”, “Technical analysis of patent”, “Patent application strategy analysis”, “Licensing and M&A analysis” and “Patent litigation analysis” whereas the focus is on patent information, that are supplemented by industrial information, as to promote the patent layout status of current SiC crystal development technique. The research result is summarized as follows: (1) not enough market players, patent scope and market competitiveness are not in absolute relation, Cree is at leading position in the market share, number of patents and patent quality; (2) quality of crystal has room for improvements, technical difficulty is high, it is not easy to make breakthroughs; (3) crystal development technique is regarded as source of competition for all companies. Major protection method and competition measure is not a patent right, while main goal is to expand the market; (4) development of 4’’ crystal can effectively reduce the cost, it is inferred that number of patents and patent right holders will increase drastically, and the possibility of patent litigation will also increase.