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TranSiC AB of Kista, Sweden has raised SEK24m ($4m, €2.6m) in second-round venture capital financing from Industrifonden, Volvo Technology Transfer Corp (VTT, vehicle maker AB Volvo’s corporate venture capital company) and private equity firm Midroc New Technology AB (also of Sweden).

TranSiC was spun off from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in October 2005 by Martin Domeij, Bo Hammarlund and professor Mikael Östling. The firm received funding from both VINNOVA (the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) and Energimyndighet (the Swedish Energy Agency) in December 2005, followed by seed funding from NUTEK and Innovationsbron in April 2006 and then first-round venture capital financing in November 2006 from VTT and Midroc.

TranSiC develops and manufactures power bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) in silicon carbide (under the trademark BitSiC). Currently, 20 Amp and 6 Amp components are available for operation at 1200 Volts in various packages and as integrated power modules.

Advantages include higher current gains and faster switching compared to silicon power bipolar junction transistors. In addition, TranSiC says that the BitSiC chip operates well at temperatures exceeding 250ºC, opening up for new applications after development of suitable package technology.

Development and device fabrication is performed in the Electrum Laboratory in Kista, Sweden, where a 4-inch line suited to SiC device technology is available. TranSiC also has access to device characterization facilities and applications testing through cooperation with pilot customers.

TranSiC is the only manufacturer shipping SiC BJT power transistors for the hybrid electrical ve hicle (HEV) industry, claims Stefan Jakelius, investment manager at Industrifonden. Other applications include inverters for solar panels and high-temperature capable power electronics.

“This investment will enable us to go from prototyping and sampling power components to our customers to qualify components and our manufacturing processes,” says co-founder and VP of sales & marketing Bo Hammarlund. “We are also planning to use part of the funding to support more sales and marketing activities.”

See related items:

TranSiC launches SiC BJT and SiC Schottky diode in TO-220 package

SiC electronics market to reach $800m by 2015

TranSiC launches first SiC switching power transistor in TO-220 package

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