News: Microelectronics
4 February 2021
CSC and NWF to develop 200mm GaN HEMT foundry process
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is supporting Compound Semiconductor Centre Ltd (CSC, a joint venture founded in 2015 between Cardiff University and epiwafer foundry and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK) and Newport Wafer Fab (NWF, the UK’s 200mm compound semiconductor wafer foundry) to develop a 200mm-wafer-diameter gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) foundry process. The project is a co-ordinated effort by CSC and NWF to deliver a foundry-grade 650V GaN-on-silicon HEMT process on a 200mm wafer platform.
The HEMT fabrication process technology will leverage 30 years of silicon-based power device manufacturing heritage at Newport Wafer Fab, developed under an automotive (IATF 16949) quality accredited volume manufacturing environment.
The epitaxial solution will leverage IP developed by CSC in partnership with parent company IQE on a high-volume Aixtron G5 200mm manufacturing platform at its Cardiff facility. CSC recently achieved full ISO9001 accreditation of its internal Quality Management System covering development through to volume scale up. The project is supported by UKRI under the ‘Automotive Transformation Fund: moving the UK automotive sector to zero emissions’.
“This is an exciting step towards NWFs vision of becoming a major manufacturer of compound-on-silicon products,” says Sam Evans, NWFs director of external affairs. “We see the wide-bandgap power device market as an excellent area to address in our plans to expand our current manufacturing footprint of 8000 wafer starts per week to 14,000, and it’s a natural opportunity for us to pursue given our heritage in high-power silicon MOSFET, IGBT and GaN device development manufacturing,” he adds.
“The GaN power market is estimated to be $700m by 2025, with massive future growth opportunity for electric vehicle (EV) adoption, and we are collaborating with a global power semiconductor blue-chip to help steer the process roadmap,” says Rob Harper, GaN program manager at CSC. “We are initially targeting the EV segment of the market, including traction inverters; as the project progresses we hope to role out custom foundry offerings that address additional market segments including mobile/laptop fast chargers and energy storage inverters,” he adds.
“This is an excellent example of two partners in the South Wales semiconductor ecosystem building on their respective technology and manufacturing strengths to offer advanced, next-generation foundry services to the global semiconductor industry,” comments CSC director Wyn Meredith.
Newport Wafer Fab completes multi-million-pound refinancing deal to new fund equipment and plant
