Veeco and Picogiga team for GaN-on-silicon wafers
Epitaxy equipment vendor Veeco Instruments and the French substrate specialist Picogiga are joining forces in a bid to speed the commercialization and volume production of GaN-on-silicon substrates.
The two companies have set up a development program to create the first industrial MBE reactor set up specifically for Picogiga's patented GaN-on-silicon manufacturing process.
Development work will take place at Veeco's process integration center in St Paul, MN (see related stories).
Once it has been built, Veeco will deliver and install the reactor at Picogiga's Les Ulis production facility in France, where it will be used to fabricate GaN-on-silicon epiwafers of up to 6 inches in diameter.
Jean-Luc Ledys, who is Picogiga's COO, says that the agreement will pave the way for the production of competitive GaN-on-silicon substrates on which devices such as high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) can be fabricated.
A whole host of companies are currently developing GaN transistor technology, with most initial production taking place on SiC substrates or, to a lesser extent, so-called "native" substrates such as GaN or AlN.
While the key advantage of using GaN is the extra output power that RF devices based on the material can produce, the substrate technology used so far has proved relatively expensive.
Veeco and Picogiga believe that a silicon base will allow better thermal conductivity, lower procurement costs and allow production on larger-diameter wafers than GaN substrates.
Among the leading GaN-on-silicon HFET device developers is the US company Nitronex (see related stories).
