IMEC Launches New Industrial Affiliation Program on GaN-on-Si Technology for Power Electronics and Lighting

14 July 2009

IMEC launched a new industrial affiliation program (IIAP) to develop high-voltage, low-loss, high-power switching devices based on large-diameter (up to 200mm) GaN-on-Si (gallium-nitride on silicon ) technology. Potential applications include high-power switching in solar converters, motor drives, hybrid electrical vehicles or switch mode power supplies.

An important goal of the program is to lower GaN technology cost by using large-diameter GaN-on-Si and hence by leveraging on the Si scale of economics.

High-voltage power devices are conventionally based on Si MOSFET structures. However, for a number of applications, they are reaching intrinsic material limits. GaN-based devices can overcome these limits due to a unique combination of excellent transport properties and high electrical field operation capability.

The few GaN devices today on the market are based on AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures and are normally-on devices, designed for RF applications, e.g. in wireless communication. Within the IIAP, the next-generation of power electronics components is envisaged, requiring the development of normally-off devices (for safety reasons) with high-voltage breakdown (600-1000V) and low on-resistance, operating in enhancement mode.

A second sub-program will exploit GaN-on-Si technology for the development of high-efficiency high-power white LEDs.

A common challenge for power electronics and optoelectronics is cost reduction.

GaN on large-diameter Si wafers (from 100mm and 150mm towards 200mm) in combination with CMOS compatible processes offers the best perspective to create economically viable solutions. While very few players can today process GaN on large-diameter Si wafers, IMEC has recently shown in collaboration with AIXTRON crack-free GaN growth on 200mm wafers. Also for other challenges, the IIAP can build on IMEC’s 10 years’ experience in GaN technology, including unique skills in epi-layer growth, new device concept, device integration and a thin-film textured LED technology for high-efficiency III-nitride LEDs.

—Marianne Germain, GaN program director

IMEC is inviting both integrated device manufacturers and companies in the compound semiconductor industry to join the program.

IMEC is an independent research center in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. IMEC vzw is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, has a sister company in the Netherlands, IMEC-NL, offices in the US, China and Taiwan, and representatives in Japan.