LONDON — TranSiC AB, a power transistor spin-off from the Royal Institute of Technology, Kista, Sweden, has raised $600,000 venture capital in a first round financing co-led by Volvo Technology Transfer Corp. and Midroc New Technology AB.

The money would be used to develop silicon carbide bipolar junction transistors, which could find applications in motor drives for electric vehicles, the company said. "The first transistors will be rated for 1200 volts and offer advantages in terms of low power losses, fast switching and excellent ruggedness. We are also planning for a package technology that can withstand temperatures up to 225 degrees Celsius," said Bo Hammarlund, chief executive officer of TranSiC, in a statement.

TranSiC develops and manufactures power bipolar junction transistors under the trademark BitSiC. The high temperature ruggedness of the devices is expected to open new applications but remains dependent on the development of suitable packaging technology, TranSiC said. Target applications include compact motor drives exceeding 1 kW for use in hybrid-electric-vehicles ( HEV), distributed power generation on the grid, high temperature capable power electronics and high-frequency high voltage applications.

TranSiC was formed in December 2005 by Mikael Östling, Martin Domeij and Bo Hammarlund. TranSiC was initially supported financially by Vinnova (the Swedish governmental agency for innovation) and Energimyndigheten (the Swedish Energy Agency).

Development and device fabrication is performed in the Electrum Laboratory in Kista, Sweden, where a four inch line suited to SiC device technology, is available.