Source: Semiconductor Industry Observation
In the field of power management, with the increasing demands for high voltage and high performance applications, GaN (Gallium Nitride) is gaining more attention. Theoretically, GaN provides technical advantages that surpass traditional silicon MOSFETs. Although the current power GaN market seems negligible compared to the $3.28 billion silicon power management market, GaN devices are penetrating various application fields, such as LiDAR, which is a high-end application that can fully utilize the high-frequency switching characteristics of power GaN. According to Yole Développement, the power GaN market size is expected to reach $423 million by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 93%.
Currently, the largest application scenario for power GaN remains in power supplies, such as fast charging for mobile phones. In 2018, Navitas and Exagan launched a 45W fast charging power adapter with integrated GaN solutions.
Smartphone giants like Apple are also highly focused on the application potential of GaN. If companies like Apple adopt GaN, many others will follow suit, creating significant growth opportunities in this market.
In the electric vehicle market, participating manufacturers of GaN, such as EPC and Transphorm, have obtained automotive certifications and are preparing for the potential growth of GaN.
Power GaN Industry Chain
Since the first commercial power GaN devices were released eight years ago, more and more companies have entered this industry chain, such as EPC, GaN Systems, Transphorm, and Navitas. Most of these startups have chosen the foundry model, primarily using TSMC, Episil, or X-fab as their preferred partners, and more foundries are expected to offer this service.
At the same time, industry giants in the power device sector, such as Infineon, ON Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, Panasonic, and Texas Instruments, have also launched new GaN projects in recent years, particularly since 2018, garnering widespread attention in the industry. For example:
1. Infineon began mass production of CoolGaN 400V and 600V enhancement-mode HEMT products at the end of 2018;
2. STMicroelectronics and CEA Leti announced a collaboration to develop 200mm wafer-based diodes and transistors using GaN-on-Si technology, with engineering samples expected to be validated in 2019. Meanwhile, STMicroelectronics will establish a production line for GaN-on-Si heteroepitaxy products, which will be put into production in 2020 at its front-end wafer fab in France.
To briefly explain the epitaxy (Epitaxy, or Epi) process, it refers to the growth of a layer of single-crystal material that has the same lattice arrangement as the single-crystal substrate. The epitaxial layer can be either a homoepitaxial layer (Si/Si) or a heteroepitaxial layer (SiGe/Si or SiC/Si, etc.). There are many methods for achieving epitaxial growth, including Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE), Ultra-High Vacuum Chemical Vapor Deposition (UHV/CVD), and Atmospheric & Reduced Pressure Epitaxy (ATM & RP Epi).
As power GaN is an emerging industry, the entire industry chain is still in its early stages and not fully mature. However, based on existing power technologies and industrial foundations, the industry chain has already taken shape, and relevant companies are gearing up in their respective fields, preparing for the explosion of the power GaN market.
Looking at the entire power GaN industry chain, it can be roughly divided into seven major segments, each with corresponding suppliers: silicon substrate suppliers, silicon-based GaN epitaxial wafer suppliers, power GaN device foundries (epitaxy + device manufacturing), device design + GaN epitaxy manufacturing, fabless (device and epitaxy design), pure foundries, and IDM.
Next, we will introduce the representative companies in each of these seven segments.
Silicon Substrate Suppliers
Siltronic
The fourth-largest silicon wafer manufacturer in the world, headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company has 150/200/300mm wafer production lines in Germany, a 200mm wafer fab in the United States, and 200mm and 300mm production lines in Singapore.
Shin-Etsu Chemical
A giant in the manufacturing of silicon wafers for integrated circuits. Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. has achieved good performance in the research and production of high-quality silicone products worldwide since it launched organic silicone manufacturing and sales 50 years ago.
To meet the expanding product demands, Shin-Etsu has established a global production and sales network in Japan, the USA, the Netherlands, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Zhejiang and Shanghai in China, providing efficient services to customers at lower costs.
Sumco
Sumco Group is the second-largest silicon wafer supplier in the world, and its silicon substrate capacity directly affects the future trends of the GaN wafer market.
SunEdison
SunEdison, formerly known as MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., founded in 1959, is one of the pioneers in silicon materials for the photovoltaic industry and is also the largest clean energy developer globally, with assets once reaching billions of dollars.
In August 2016, GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited announced it had signed an agreement with SunEdison to acquire related assets for approximately $150 million.
Wafer Works
This wafer fab provides various wafer solutions through vertically integrated single crystal ingots, polishing, and Epi wafer production lines. Its main products include semiconductor silicon wafer materials, silicon wafer materials for solar cells, and sapphire substrates for the LED industry.
Silicon-based GaN Epitaxial Wafer Suppliers
NTT AT (NTT Research Institute)
NTT-AT can provide high-quality GaN epitaxial wafers, ensuring alignment with IC manufacturers’ design concepts. Furthermore, the company is committed to reducing leakage current and collapse by precisely controlling epitaxial growth conditions and leveraging proprietary technology and years of accumulated expertise inherited from NTT laboratories.
NTT-AT has prepared wafer production systems suitable for research and development with high uniformity requirements and stable mass production of commercial products. NTT-AT is a partner for IC manufacturers and can provide customers with GaN HEMT epitaxial wafers.
DOWA (Japan)
This company is a supplier of compound semiconductors, providing GaN series semiconductor materials for lasers and sensors, red and infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and developing new products in promising fields such as nitride semiconductors for high-power semiconductors and deep ultraviolet LEDs for sterilization equipment.
IQE (Integrity, Quality, and Expertise)
Headquartered in Cardiff, Wales, UK, IQE is a supplier of semiconductor wafer products and operating services.
EpiGaN
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Hasselt, Belgium, EpiGaN is a spin-off from the renowned microelectronics research center IMEC, boasting a top-notch team and strong independent R&D capabilities. The company has achieved industrial mass production of 8-inch silicon-based GaN epitaxial wafers, with its production process at the forefront of the industry compared to mainstream 6-inch production lines.
EpiGaN’s main products are silicon-based GaN (GaN-on-Si) and silicon carbide-based GaN (GaN-on-SiC) epitaxial wafers, widely used in 5G communications, efficient power electronics, RF power, sensors, and more. Its main partners include the European Space Agency, Bosch, Infineon, IBM, Emerson, OMMIC, and other well-known institutions and companies.
The company is an important member of the EU research project SERENA (Silicon-based Efficient Millimeter Wave European System Integration Platform), which started in January 2018 and will last for 36 months.
Power GaN Device Foundries (Epitaxy + Device Manufacturing)
EPISIL (Hanlei Advanced Investment Holding Company)
Originally Hanlei Technology, the main business is wafer foundry for power semiconductors. To strengthen its layout in the power semiconductor field, it transformed into an investment holding company in October 2014, while separating the epitaxy and wafer foundry into two subsidiary companies.
Hanlei Investment Holding and its subsidiaries are fully committed to the development of innovative technologies and products, including the mass production of GaN and SiC power semiconductor devices, demonstrating the company’s active investment in the energy sector.
BRIDG
With 8-inch wafer manufacturing capabilities, located in Florida, USA, BRIDG focuses on the development and manufacturing of advanced technologies for smart sensors, imagers, advanced equipment, and 2.5D/3D chip integration.
Additionally, FUJITSU and TSMC also offer power GaN device foundry (epitaxy + device manufacturing) services.
Device Design + GaN Epitaxy Manufacturing
Transphorm
Transphorm, based in the USA, is a company that designs and produces GaN power converters and modules.
The company’s founders, Primit Parish and Umesh Mishra, successfully operated a GaN LED company named Nitres before it was acquired by Cree. In 2007, they co-founded Transphorm. For the past decade, Transphorm has focused on bringing high-voltage GaN FETs to market, dedicated to designing, manufacturing, and selling GaN products for the power electronics market (data center servers, PV converters, induction/servo motors, industrial and automotive power supply markets).
In 2013, Transphorm launched the industry’s first JEDEC-certified GaN device. In March 2017, it released the only AEC-Q101 certified 650V automotive GaN device on the market.
Exagan
Founded in 2014 with the support of research institution CEA-Leti and semiconductor materials company Soitec, Exagan aims to accelerate the power electronics industry by transitioning from silicon-based technologies to GaN-on-silicon technology, making power converters smaller and more efficient.
Exagan’s GaN power switch designs can be manufactured in standard 200mm wafer fabs, providing high-performance, highly reliable products through a strong supply chain. Its G-FETTM and G-DRIVETM product lines offer extremely high performance and low loss in power conversion, significantly increasing the efficiency of power conversion components and applicable in various fields such as solar energy, industrial, automotive, and communications.
Exagan’s 200mm GaN strategy partners include X-FAB Silicon Foundries and international research institution CEA-Leti, with quality control and testing carried out in collaboration with TÜV NORD GROUP.
Exagan’s main locations are in Grenoble and Toulouse, France.
Fabless (Device and Epitaxy Design)
GaN Systems
GaN Systems can design smaller, lower-cost, and more efficient power GaN devices. By altering transistor performance, the company helps power conversion clients change the rules of their industry, achieving a win-win situation.
Navitas Semiconductor
Founded in 2014.
If high switching frequency can be combined with high energy efficiency, power systems can achieve significant improvements in charging speed, power density, and cost reduction. Navitas achieved this revolution with the invention of the industry’s first GaN power IC, which can increase switching speeds by 100 times while saving 40% or more energy. The name Navitas is derived from the Latin word for “energy.”
VisIC Technologies
Headquartered in Israel, VisIC Technologies was founded in 2010 by a group of GaN technology experts aiming to develop and sell advanced power conversion products based on GaN. VisIC has successfully developed high-power transistors and modules based on GaN. The company has obtained patents protecting its GaN technology and is currently applying for additional patents.
VisIC’s unique proprietary technology is based on GaN transistor knowledge, utilizing GaN molds to design efficient and advanced packaging, manufacturing cost-effective, compact, and high-performance devices.
Its ALL-Switch series is a system-in-package (SIP) switch. It integrates safety features within the package, has low on-resistance, and excels in fast switching performance with a small duty cycle. ALL-Switch products are particularly suitable for applications with strict requirements for high efficiency, high power density, and low cost.
EPC (Efficient Power Conversion Corporation)
EPC is a supplier of power management devices based on enhanced GaN, and it is the first company to launch silicon-based enhanced GaN (eGaN) field-effect transistors as alternatives to power MOSFET devices. Its target applications include DC-DC converters, wireless power transfer, envelope tracking, RF transmission, power inverters, LiDAR, and Class D audio amplifiers, with device performance significantly surpassing that of silicon power MOSFETs. Additionally, EPC is expanding its eGaN product line to provide customers with solutions that further save board area, energy, and costs.
Dialog
Headquartered in London, UK, Dialog Semiconductor began supplying GaN power ICs to fast charging power adapter manufacturers in the second half of 2016. Mark Tyndall, the company’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy, stated at the time: “When TSMC began offering GaN on 6-inch wafers, we realized it was a signal that the timing was right to enter the GaN market.”
Since then, Dialog has been collaborating with TSMC to bring high-voltage GaN power ICs and controllers to market. Dialog’s power management ICs combined with digital “RapidCharge” power conversion controllers can provide more efficient, smaller, and higher power density power solutions compared to existing silicon FETs.
GaNPower International
This company is creating a vertically integrated design value chain for customers by integrating and leveraging its advantages in GaN HEMT power device design, controller and driver IC design, and power electronics system design.
The company’s product advantages include high switching frequencies that allow for significant reductions in manufacturing costs by lowering transistor costs and using smaller passive components. This also means that power electronics systems using GaN transistors can achieve higher power densities, smaller sizes, and lighter weights.
Additionally, the excellent thermal performance of GaN materials allows for smaller or even no heat sinks, further reducing size and weight and lowering total costs.
Besides the companies mentioned above, Tagore Technology is also a Fabless focused on power GaN.
Pure Foundries
X-Fab
X-Fab is headquartered in Erfurt, Germany, primarily providing foundry services for analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits as well as GaN and SiC solutions for high-voltage applications.
X-Fab had sales of $42 million in 2017, up from $38 million in 2016.
World Advanced (VIS)
Founded in December 1994 in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan, World Advanced is a leading provider of special process IC manufacturing services. The company currently operates three 8-inch wafer fabs, with an average monthly production capacity of approximately 199,000 wafers in 2018.
World Advanced leverages its existing core technological expertise to continuously increase investment in product and process R&D in response to industry and market growth needs. In the power device sector, the ongoing R&D process technologies include high-voltage processes, ultra-high-voltage processes, BCD (Bipolar CMOS DMOS) processes, SOI (Silicon on Insulator), and power GaN and SiC, which are also key development areas for the company.
GCS (Galaxy Communication Semiconductor)
Founded in 1997 in California, USA, GCS is an ISO-certified provider of III-V compound semiconductor (Gallium Arsenide, Indium Phosphide, Gallium Nitride) pure wafer manufacturing services, producing products for the wireless communications market, including RF ICs and millimeter-wave circuits, as well as power components for the power electronics market, including power GaN foundry services.
Additionally, industry-renowned specialized process wafer foundry TowerJazz also provides GaN foundry services.
IDM
STMicroelectronics (ST)
The company is expanding its product portfolio into the GaN sector. In September last year, STMicroelectronics showcased its R&D progress in power GaN and announced plans to build a new production line for products including GaN-on-Si heteroepitaxy.
In 2018, the company collaborated with CEA-Leti on power GaN, mainly focusing on normally-off GaN HEMT and GaN diode design and R&D, leveraging CEA-Leti’s intellectual property and STMicroelectronics’ expertise. ST is developing products in the pilot line at CEA-Leti in Grenoble, France, and will transfer them to STMicroelectronics’ 8-inch production line (also in France) once the technology matures.
Additionally, STMicroelectronics is collaborating with MACOM to develop RF GaN products.
Infineon
In September 2014, Infineon acquired International Rectifier (IR) for $3 billion, gaining IR’s silicon substrate GaN power semiconductor manufacturing technology. IR launched its first commercial GaN products, iP2010 and iP2011, in 2010 for multi-phase and POL DC-DC converters, switches, and servers. In May 2013, IR began commercializing GaN devices on silicon.
In March 2015, Infineon and Panasonic reached an agreement to jointly develop normally-off silicon substrate GaN transistors using Panasonic’s structure, launching high-efficiency 600V GaN power devices. Panasonic granted Infineon a license to use its normally-off GaN transistor structure. Under the agreement, both companies can produce high-performance GaN devices.
Infineon began mass production of CoolGaN 400V and 600V enhancement-mode HEMTs at the end of 2018.
ON Semiconductor
In power GaN R&D, ON Semiconductor is collaborating with Transphorm to jointly develop and promote GaN-based products and power system solutions for various high-voltage fields, including industrial, computing, communications, LED lighting, and networking. In 2017, the two companies jointly launched the 600V GaN cascode transistor NTP8G202N and NTP8G206N, with on-resistances of 290 mΩ and 150 mΩ, output capacitances of 36 pF and 56 pF, and reverse recovery charges of 0.029 µC and 0.054 µC, respectively, using optimized TO-220 packaging for easy integration based on existing customer board capabilities.
Based on the same on-resistance level, the company’s first-generation 600V silicon-based GaN devices have shown over four times better gate charge, better output charge, similar output capacitance, and over 20 times better reverse recovery charge compared to high-voltage silicon MOSFETs. As improvements continue, the advantages of GaN will become increasingly apparent.
Texas Instruments (TI)
TI’s GaN series solutions integrate high-speed gate drivers, EMI control, over-temperature and over-current protection, with a response time of 100ns. Integrated devices optimize layout, minimizing parasitic inductance, enhancing dv/dt immunity (CMTI), and reducing board space.
Panasonic
During the development of GaN, Panasonic addressed many challenges. Particularly, its X-GaN series stands out with notable advantages in three aspects: safety (achieving normally-off operation); similar driving methods to Si-MOSFETs (less prone to gate damage); and ease of design (no current collapse).
X-GaN employs HD-GIT structure, providing the most suitable packaging options from small to large power devices. Small power devices offer DFN6x4, while medium to large power devices provide DFN8x8, and large power devices offer PSOP packaging. Additionally, all products can utilize Kelvin Source, minimizing source parasitic inductance to achieve stable high-frequency operation.
Conclusion
The above outlines the seven major segments of the global power GaN industry chain and their representative companies. We can see that power GaN technology, products, and markets are primarily controlled by companies from the USA, Japan, and Europe. Relatively speaking, the scale and influence of domestic companies in China are still small. However, driven by the enormous market development potential, a number of domestic power GaN companies are also striving to catch up and gradually fill and improve China’s GaN industry system. We hope that in the near future, they can compete with these multinational companies.
