First 200 mm AlN-on-Si template using ammonia-based MBE
EasyGaN, Riber, and CRHEA-CNRS Lab work together to reach industry milestone
EasyGaN, Riber SA, and the CRHEA-CNRS Laboratory in France have reached an important milestone with the fabrication of a first 200 mm AlN-on-Si template using NH3-MBE.
The team grew the high quality template using a Riber MBE 49 reactor installed at the CRHEA laboratory. With this step, EasyGaN says will be able to provide high-quality AlN templates to the electronic market enabling the fabrication of GaN-on-Si devices with improved breakdown voltages, significantly lower RF losses, and allowing for a higher manufacturing throughput with the required diameters. This innovation is also a major step forward in the development of EasyGaN’s own GaN-on-Si epiwafer solutions.
“This achievement was crucial for the adoption of our template technology by the GaN-on-Si manufacturers. We are looking forward to showing what our NH3-MBE AlN template solution can bring to the market”, says André Bonnardot, CEO at EasyGaN.
“Despite the impact of the Covid19 pandemic on working conditions, the epi team remained fully mobilised to complete quickly this proof of concept which qualifies the Riber MBE 49 GaN as the perfect 200mm MBE production tool for growing high quality GaN epilayers on Si for power electronics”, says Philippe Ley, CEO at Riber.
“The growth of III-nitrides on silicon by MBE has been a major research area at CRHEA for the last two decades. Growing AlN-on-Si templates on an industrial 200 mm MBE reactor represents a major achievement, a perfect example of successful transfer from original academic ideas to industrial partners” says Philippe Boucaud, CRHEA’s director.
EasyGaN is a startup providing solutions for easy access to the GaN-on-silicon technology. Located on the French Riviera, EasyGaN is a spin-off of CRHEA-CNRS, an internationally recognised research centre in the epitaxial growth of GaN. EasyGaN is also a member of the national network GaNeX, which has supported the industrial transfer from CRHEA to EasyGaN for three years through post doc positions.
CRHEA (Research Centre for HeteroEpitaxy and its Applications) specialises in the epitaxy of wide band gap semiconductor materials such as III-nitride materials GaN, AlN, ZnO, SiC and their micro- and nanofabrication. CRHEA also studies 2D materials such as graphene and boron nitride.
