TDI demonstrates 6-inch GaN epitaxy
6-inch diameter GaN-on-sapphire epitaxial wafers were fabricated at TDI using its patented hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) process and equipment. The company says that the demonstration of large-area GaN epitaxy opens a new horizon for the entire nitride community, including substrate manufacturers, device designers, producers of epitaxial and device processing equipment.
Although there is a strong development and commercialization effort for GaN devices around the world, the current industry standard is to use 2-inch diameter epitaxial wafers in production, with R&D effort in 3- and 4-inch sizes. Cree is currently transitioning its production facilities to use 3-inch SiC substrates. In general, transitioning to larger substrates should improve the economics of device fabrication.
"We are proud to lead nitride technology to more competitive and economical solutions," said Vladimir Dmitriev, president and CEO of TDI. "This result became possible due to our collaboration with Rubicon Technology, Inc., a US-based company which supplied the 6-inch polished sapphire substrates, and with US Departments of Commerce, Energy, and Defense, who provided the financial support through several R&D programs directed to developing a new generation of GaN epitaxial technology."
Dmitriev added that the demonstration of 6-inch GaN epitaxy is a specific result of the Phase I SBIR program recently awarded to TDI by the Missile Defense Agency.
TDI will present more information on large area multi wafer advance HVPE manufacturing processes and equipment for GaN, AlN, and AlGaN materials at the Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing Expo (CS-MAX 2004), which is being held in Monterey, CA, on October 26-28, 2004.
