Cree Licenses GaN Power Patents to Nexperia
Nexperia joins a growing list of companies licensed to Cree's GaN power device IP
Cree has signed a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing patent license agreement with Nexperia BV, a Dutch company.
The agreement provides Nexperia access to Cree's GaN power device patent portfolio, which includes over 300 issued US and foreign patents that describe inventive aspects of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) and GaN Schottky diode devices.
The portfolio addresses novel device structures, materials and processing improvements, and packaging technology. The patent license involves no transfer of technology.
"Cree was founded to develop novel compound semiconductor materials like GaN and SiC and to create devices that capitalize on their unique properties," said John Palmour, Cree co-founder and CTO of Wolfspeed, a Cree company. "Cree's decades of innovation are now yielding devices that enable market introductions of new power management and wireless systems. To help facilitate the growth of these new markets, Cree is licensing its GaN power device patents for GaN power-management systems."
Other licensees of Cree power IP include Mitsubishi, which has a license to manufacture and sell freestanding GaN substrates from 2009; Transphorm which has a license to manufacture and sell GaN HEMT and GaN Schottky diode devices for power conversion; and Nippon Steel Corporation, which has a sell silicon carbide materials for electronic device applications.
