GaN-on-Si of relief
Reports show growth for the technology
In the present day, it’s difficult for any technology to push through against the norm. Yet GaN-on-Si has seen some real commitment from some of the power market’s biggest competitors. The Yole Group unveils its research into this ongoing story
N
icolas Baron, CEO and co-founder of KnowMade, recognises the “decisive changes within the GaN-on-Si landscape” over the “2015-2020 period”, highlighting Toshiba’s withdrawal from the white LED market and the acquisition of IR by Infineon as two key moments. At that time, Toshiba and IR were operating intensively within the GaN-on-Si patent landscape, while several historical IP players - including Panasonic, Sanken Electric, Toyoda Gosei - had slowed down their patenting activity in this field. Furthermore, IR, Transphorm, Panasonic and GaN Systems started sampling/commercialising their first GaN-on-Si power devices between 2010 and 2015, and a second wave of companies has entered the playground in the last few years: ON Semiconductor, Dialog, Navitas, VisIC, have all joined the enterprise. With even more expected soon, and one can see manifest evidence to prove the growing interest for GaN-on-Si technology in the power electronics business.
ANALYSING THE IMPACT This has inspired the Yole Group of Companies, including KnowMade and System Plus Consulting, to engage in an overall analysis: the three companies are working together to get a deeper understanding of the market and its status. They follow trends, evaluate their impact and analyse the strategy of leading players, with the aim of procuring a comprehensive overview of the transformation of this industry. KnowMade has already announced its own study, focused on the
aforementioned technologies, titled ‘GaN-on-Silicon Patent-Landscape Analysis’. With this, KnowMade has recognised a pin point of GaN-on-Si focused research and development: at Intel and Macom.
Intel’s RF GaN-on-Si patent portfolio mainly relates to III-N transistors used in SoC, RF switches, ultra-short channel lengths, field plates and III-N/Silicon monolithic ICs. Still, about 75 per cent of Intel’s portfolio are composed of pending patent applications distributed mainly between USA with 17 patents, and Taiwan with 20 patents. In contrast, Macom’s portfolio is more focused on GaN-on-Si devices for RF, addressing specific technological challenges at epitaxy, device, module and package levels. For instance, a strong patenting effort was made in 2015, in order to address the parasitic channel via counter dopants in HEMT epi-structures. KnowMade’s analysts identified more than ten related patent applications in its new GaN-on-Silicon patent analysis. Furthermore, Macom’s patenting activity is essentially focused in the US, although it has now requested foreign extensions for a significant number of newly published inventions. Regarding the power electronics field, Rémi Comyn from KnowMade comments: “The growing interest in GaN-on-Si technology for power applications has not translated into a remarkable acceleration of the patenting activity. However, we observed a steady growth of interest from Infineon following IR’s acquisition, and a strengthening of Transphorm’s portfolio after Fujitsu’s
/ ELECTRONICS
Nicolas Baron, CEO and co-founder, KnowMade
decision to transfer its power supply businesses to the US startup.” Transphorm’s IP position has been reinforced following the licensing agreement established in 2014 with Furukawa Electric, a key IP player in GaN-on-Si patent landscape. Likewise, Infineon Technologies closed an important IP licensing agreement with another GaN-on-Si player, Panasonic. Ultimately, KnowMade will keep a close eye on GaN-on-Si IP activity over the next month. After all, GaN-on-Si devices are direct competitors of Silicon SJ MOSFETs at medium voltage. “SJ MOSFETS are still cost effective, and technologically interesting,” explains Elena Barbarini, head of department devices at System Plus Consulting; “But the increase of players, considering the attractive performances at GaN epitaxy level, drove an acceleration of available solutions regarding die design, driver integration and packaging.” This competition is examined in detail within the ‘Medium Voltage GaN HEMT vs Superjunction MOSFET Comparison’ report, compiled and completed by System Plus Consulting. In this dynamic ecosystem,
GaN-on-Si technologies look attractive and promising. This phenomenon is highlighted with the numerous patents incoming. Under this context, KnowMade and its partners, Yole and System Plus Consulting, will pursue their investigations in this field.
Yole Développement
www.yole.fr
ELECTRONICS | FEBRUARY 2020 9
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