Gallium Nitride: The Future of Electronics
Significance of Gallium Nitride in the Global Electronic Ecosystem
The electronics industry is constantly evolving with silicon as the fulcrum owing to the rapid surge in embracing an electronic dependant lifestyle across the globe. Every aspect of our day-to-day life has an imprint of electronics in it. The emerging trends such as circuit miniaturization and energy efficiency have been a top priority for leading electronic manufacturers. They focus on innovation, R&D, and manufacturing strategies to manage the size, weight, and power with cost (SWaP-C) constraints. Especially in applications related to automotive, consumer electronics, renewable energy, industrial automation, and data centers, which occupy a significant chunk of today’s electronics usage, achieving energy efficiency is becoming increasingly challenging.
SushruthaSadashiva, Industry Analyst, TechVision, Frost & Sullivan
In an industry dominated by silicon, gallium nitride (GaN) makes a steady headway in realizing compact and power-efficient electronic circuits. Being a wide bandgap semiconductor, GaN offers several benefits over silicon, making it an ideal choice for power electronic devices that operate at voltage levels less than 1 kV with the ability to handle power up to 10 kW. GaN has a high breakdown field compared to silicon resulting in its superior capability to withstand high voltage and high power without getting damaged. Moreover, its high thermal stability while operating at temperatures up to 1600°C completely eliminates the usage of heat sinks in power circuits resulting in a significant size reduction of the end device. Apart from power electronics, GaN is the chosen semiconductor material for developing radio frequency front-end devices such as power amplifiers. Its salient features include high electron mobility and high switching frequency. Being a predominant material in blue LEDs, GaN has entered the energy-efficient micro-LED display market, which has a huge potential to replace the power-hungry LED and OLED displays used in smartphones and televisions. Overall, GaN can be considered a wonder material for today’s electronic devices.
GaN’s Application Diversity and Its Importance to India’s Goal of Achieving Energy Sustainability
The emergence of GaN has garnered interest from global semiconductor players such as Qualcomm, NXP, and Infineon while inspiring the founding of prominent start-ups such as Qorvo, Navitas Semiconductors, and Efficient Power Corporation, to name a few. The initial commercialization of GaN-based products has come in the form of fast chargers and power adaptors used for laptops and smartphones spearheaded by Navitas Semiconductors. They partnered with global electronic device OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Asus through its innovation of GaNFast™ power integrated circuits. Various collaborative efforts are being carried out across the globe in creating GaN-based reference designs for circuits such as inverters to accelerate the deployment of GaN across multiple industries. Siemens launched its GaN-based Simatic Micro Drive by integrating GaN Systems’ GaN transistors. At the same time, Transphorm collaborates with Taiwanese electric scooter manufacturer Gogoro to develop GaN-based smart energy charging stations. Wireless chargers and audio amplifiers are other application areas where usage of GaN is gaining significant momentum. The emergence of the “Go Green” initiative supported by global governmental organizations is speeding up the adoption of GaN in power electronic circuits used in electric vehicles (EVs) and power supply systems of datacenters. GaN-based RF devices will soon replace silicon LDMOS systems in the network infrastructure for 5G communication in the communications sector. Display manufacturers such as Samsung are investing significantly in developing GaN-based microLED displays.
Being a large domestic user for consumer electronic devices, especially smartphones and laptops, India can be considered a key market for GaN-based products. In terms of innovation, India’s tryst with GaN can be accredited to developing GaN enhancement mode high electron mobility transistors capable of operating at 600V by the Indian Institute of Science in 2019. GaN products such as power adaptors, fast chargers, and displays can play a pivotal role in India’s goal of achieving energy sustainability. India’s ambitious efforts towards deploying electric vehicles can be boosted by developing vehicle chargers using GaN. Moreover, the deployment of 5G communication will be a significant driver for GaN adoption in India in the coming years.
Key Challenges and the Road Ahead
The journey of GaN in the electronics industry hasn’t been smooth as it’s pitted with the well-established, readily available, and cost-effective silicon. Substrate materials used for the fabrication of GaN are expensive compared to silicon. Hence, the challenge will be to build a commercially viable foundry model for GaN fabrication. Sophisticated packaging techniques are required to tap into the inherent potential of GaN. Circuit designs are yet to be tweaked to house GaN in place of silicon. Addressing these challenges will be vital for solidifying GaN’s presence in the electronics industry shortly.
The electronics industry is constantly evolving with silicon as the fulcrum owing to the rapid surge in embracing an electronic dependant lifestyle across the globe. Every aspect of our day-to-day life has an imprint of electronics in it. The emerging trends such as circuit miniaturization and energy efficiency have been a top priority for leading electronic manufacturers. They focus on innovation, R&D, and manufacturing strategies to manage the size, weight, and power with cost (SWaP-C) constraints. Especially in applications related to automotive, consumer electronics, renewable energy, industrial automation, and data centers, which occupy a significant chunk of today’s electronics usage, achieving energy efficiency is becoming increasingly challenging.
SushruthaSadashiva, Industry Analyst, TechVision, Frost & Sullivan
In an industry dominated by silicon, gallium nitride (GaN) makes a steady headway in realizing compact and power-efficient electronic circuits. Being a wide bandgap semiconductor, GaN offers several benefits over silicon, making it an ideal choice for power electronic devices that operate at voltage levels less than 1 kV with the ability to handle power up to 10 kW. GaN has a high breakdown field compared to silicon resulting in its superior capability to withstand high voltage and high power without getting damaged. Moreover, its high thermal stability while operating at temperatures up to 1600°C completely eliminates the usage of heat sinks in power circuits resulting in a significant size reduction of the end device. Apart from power electronics, GaN is the chosen semiconductor material for developing radio frequency front-end devices such as power amplifiers. Its salient features include high electron mobility and high switching frequency. Being a predominant material in blue LEDs, GaN has entered the energy-efficient micro-LED display market, which has a huge potential to replace the power-hungry LED and OLED displays used in smartphones and televisions. Overall, GaN can be considered a wonder material for today’s electronic devices.
GaN’s Application Diversity and Its Importance to India’s Goal of Achieving Energy Sustainability
The emergence of GaN has garnered interest from global semiconductor players such as Qualcomm, NXP, and Infineon while inspiring the founding of prominent start-ups such as Qorvo, Navitas Semiconductors, and Efficient Power Corporation, to name a few. The initial commercialization of GaN-based products has come in the form of fast chargers and power adaptors used for laptops and smartphones spearheaded by Navitas Semiconductors. They partnered with global electronic device OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Asus through its innovation of GaNFast™ power integrated circuits. Various collaborative efforts are being carried out across the globe in creating GaN-based reference designs for circuits such as inverters to accelerate the deployment of GaN across multiple industries. Siemens launched its GaN-based Simatic Micro Drive by integrating GaN Systems’ GaN transistors. At the same time, Transphorm collaborates with Taiwanese electric scooter manufacturer Gogoro to develop GaN-based smart energy charging stations. Wireless chargers and audio amplifiers are other application areas where usage of GaN is gaining significant momentum. The emergence of the “Go Green” initiative supported by global governmental organizations is speeding up the adoption of GaN in power electronic circuits used in electric vehicles (EVs) and power supply systems of datacenters. GaN-based RF devices will soon replace silicon LDMOS systems in the network infrastructure for 5G communication in the communications sector. Display manufacturers such as Samsung are investing significantly in developing GaN-based microLED displays.
Being a large domestic user for consumer electronic devices, especially smartphones and laptops, India can be considered a key market for GaN-based products. In terms of innovation, India’s tryst with GaN can be accredited to developing GaN enhancement mode high electron mobility transistors capable of operating at 600V by the Indian Institute of Science in 2019. GaN products such as power adaptors, fast chargers, and displays can play a pivotal role in India’s goal of achieving energy sustainability. India’s ambitious efforts towards deploying electric vehicles can be boosted by developing vehicle chargers using GaN. Moreover, the deployment of 5G communication will be a significant driver for GaN adoption in India in the coming years.
Key Challenges and the Road Ahead
The journey of GaN in the electronics industry hasn’t been smooth as it’s pitted with the well-established, readily available, and cost-effective silicon. Substrate materials used for the fabrication of GaN are expensive compared to silicon. Hence, the challenge will be to build a commercially viable foundry model for GaN fabrication. Sophisticated packaging techniques are required to tap into the inherent potential of GaN. Circuit designs are yet to be tweaked to house GaN in place of silicon. Addressing these challenges will be vital for solidifying GaN’s presence in the electronics industry shortly.
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