Power
economies of scale and lower prices. Last but not least, engineers need security of supply so they can develop their GaN-based products and systems without concerns around any potential discontinuation of manufacturing. We knew that only via a dramatic upscaling of volume GaN device production and the control of our own factory facilities would it be possible to address the demands of price, volume and supply security.
Our strategy from the start was to focus on the fabrication of 8-inch wafers, which ensure almost a factor of two additional
devices per wafer in comparison with 6-inch wafers. We also set about developing a silicon-compatible process flow such that years of learning and optimisation for the mass production of silicon transistors was transferable to the production of GaN wafers. Innoscience today has the world’s largest 8-inch wafer GaN-on-Si facilities, currently offering capacity of up to 10,000 8-inch wafers per month, which we will extend to 70,000 by 2025. Yield is also very high thanks to the use of the latest manufacturing technologies – proven on silicon devices.
Of course, there is one more increasingly important factor in any 21st century engineering equation: sustainability and industry’s responsibility to protect the environment.
GaN is an inherently energy-efficient technology. For example, the annual power saving of one data centre cabinet using GaN is equivalent to a reduction of about 8 tonnes of CO2 emissions. This is an outstanding contribution when remembering that data centres represent an 18 per cent
share of total energy consumption. The importance of this technology heightens when we think about the emergence of new application scenarios, such as Al, big data, data processing centres, electric vehicles and autonomous driving, all of which will lead to a dramatic increase in global electricity demand. Where there is electricity, there is a need for conversion, growing the need for even more power devices. In turn, there will be an increasing requirement not only to reduce power loss in the conversion process, but also deliver higher power efficiency and reduce component size (to further reduce power loss). The benefits of high switching frequency, low on-resistance, small size and multiple functions mean that GaN power devices offer higher system efficiency, less power loss, compact shape and a simpler system design in comparison with silicon power devices, which can result in lower BOM.
Put simply, GaN chips offer significantly improved performance and greatly reduce energy consumption in a smaller package, thus facilitating a reduction in CO2 emissions and thus also saving M$ in energy usage: thus, a win-win for the environment and the users.
Monetising the technology We believe that these factors are what the industry requires to commercialise their systems with integral GaN devices. Moving forward, we have established a solid roadmap in place addressing several emerging application requirements. Our current wide portfolio of LV, MV and HV devices as well as our future roadmap meet the demand from an increasing number of design engineers looking to exploit the virtues of GaN power solutions for their next-generation devices and leapfrog the competition.
Get set for this massive GaN deployment!
www.innoscience.com
www.cieonline.co.uk. Components in Electronics June 2023 59
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