Gallium nitride devices, with their high electron mobility, wide bandgap, and excellent thermal conductivity, are the preferred candidates for power electronics, electric vehicles, the electric grid and renewable energy systems.
Gallium Nitride (GaN) power devices use gallium nitride as semiconductor material instead of the more conventional silicon. Because of their unique properties – high electron mobility, wide bandgap, and excellent thermal conductivity – they offer advantages over traditional silicon-based devices in terms of efficiency, power density, and performance in high-frequency applications.
First introduced as a promising material for high-end PV inverters, GaN has now more widely been adopted by the market, e.g., for mobile phone fast chargers. Thanks to their reliable and successful operation in these applications, the technology will be used more broadly in the future. For example, for power electronics in data centers, electric vehicles and the industrial market.
Imec studies how to make GaN devices more reliable and performant by diving deep into device physics, power switching and failure mechanisms. Next to this, imec develops new device concepts for future generations. The devices are made on 200mm silicon, SOI or QST™ substrates, with already some work on 300mm substrates – to be ready for the expected industry transition.
These device concepts are available in the 40V to 1200V nodes:
Research update: monolithic integration of GaN components boosts power integrated circuits
You can work with imec on this topic in various ways, depending on your needs:
Imec also develops GaN technology and devices for RF applications.
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