NEWS REVIEW
GaN device market to reach over $2.2 billion
ACCORDING to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research GaN Semiconductor Devices (Power semiconductors, Opto semiconductors) Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019, the market was valued at US $380 million in 2012. This, says the fi rm, is expected to reach $ 2.2 billion by 2019, growing at a CAGR of 24.6 percent from 2013 to 2019.
North America was the largest contributor to global GaN semiconductor devices market accounting for 32.1 percent of the overall GaN semiconductors devices market in 2012. Asia Pacifi c is expected to be the fastest growing market for GaN semiconductor devices during the forecast period, growing at a CAGR of 27.7 percent from 2013 to 2019. This is mainly due to the rapid growth in the electronic industry in Asia Pacifi c.
The growing demand for high speed, high temperature and power handling capabilities have made the semiconductor industry rethink upon the designs and materials used in semiconductors. As various faster and smaller computing devices are coming forth, the use of silicon in semiconductors is making it diffi cult to sustain Moore’s Law.
Owing to the unique characteristics of GaN such as superior noise factor, high maximum current, high breakdown voltage, and high oscillation frequency, GaN is a unique material of choice for numerous applications such as military, aerospace and defence sector, automotive sector and high power applications such as industrial, solar, power and wind. GaN is power effi cient as it requires less heat sink compared to silicon.
Growing application areas as well as increased demand from military is the major driving force for the growth of GaN semiconductor devices market. The increase in demand is mainly due to signifi cant reduction in weight and size of devices obtained by usage of GaN. What’s more, developments in improving the breakdown voltage of GaN are expected to boost the usage of GaN in the fi eld of electro-mobility. In 2012, opto semiconductor was the major product
MA-COM acquires Nitronex
M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc. has acquired Nitronex, LLC, a specialist in the design and manufacture of GaN based RF solutions for $26 million.
type and accounted for 96.6 percent of the global GaN semiconductor device market. This was mainly due to adoption of GaN opto semiconductors in military, aerospace, defence and consumer electronics sector. However power semiconductor segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. This is mainly due to growing need of high power devices for industrial applications.
Among the different applications, the military defence and aerospace sector held the highest market share and was valued at USD 82 million in 2012. Consumer electronics was the second largest application segment followed by ICT and automotive sector. With the introduction of 4G network, the demand for high power transistors and base stations is expected to rise. Hence the demand for GaN power semiconductors in ICT is expected to grow at the fastest pace. North America was the market leader in 2012, followed by Europe, Asia Pacifi c and RoW.
The global Photonic IC market is highly fragmented and competitive. Major industry participants include Fujitsu Limited (Japan), GaN Systems Inc (Canada), Freescale Semiconductors Incorporated (U.S.), International Rectifi er Corporation (U.S.), Cree Inc (U.S.), Nichia Corporation (Japan) and RF Micro Devices Inc. (U.S.) among others. The power semiconductors reviewed in the report are Schottky diodes, Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFETs), High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) and rectifi ers and other advanced transistor types.
The opto semiconductors described include LEDs and laser diodes.
The acquisition is expected to provide MACOM with fundamental GaN-on- silicon epitaxial and pendeoepitaxial semiconductor process technology and materials for use in RF applications, establishing MACOM’s growing GaN technology portfolio as one of the broadest in the industry.
Nitronex previously leveraged this technology to offer the industry’s fi rst GaN-on-silicon RF discrete devices and MMICs, providing a combination of GaN-based performance, ease of integration and a cost structure that can support high volume, mainstream markets. The high device linearity, high output power and effi ciency characteristics of GaN devices make GaN-on-silicon technology ideal for demanding high bandwidth communications such as CATV, broadband radio, wireless infrastructure, radar and ISM applications.
“GaN technology has been long viewed as the driver of the next generation of RF and Microwave applications,” says John Croteau, President and CEO, MACOM. “With today’s announcement, MACOM now provides, what we believe to be the industry’s largest portfolio of GaN devices. MACOM’s broadened portfolio of GaN-on-silicon and GaN- on-SiC technologies offers customers the fl exibility to utilise the best solution to solve their RF and Microwave design challenges.”
“Nitronex is excited to join MACOM, a leader in high performance RF and microwave technology,” says Greg Baker, President and CEO of Nitronex. “Today’s announcement accelerates the deployment of GaN as a dislocating technology and furthers Nitronex’s vision of bringing GaN-on-silicon to the fullest breadth of commercial and aerospace and defence applications possible.”
March 2014
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 13
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164