Both these organisations are inside the compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales.
Coordinated jointly by the Centre and Fab, the intention is to deliver a 650V GaN-on-silicon HEMTs (all GaN power transistors are high electron mobility transistors) on 200mm wafers.
“We are initially targeting the electric vehicle segment of the market, including traction inverters, “said the Centre’s GaN programme manager Rob Harper. “As the project progresses, we hope to roll out custom foundry offerings that address additional market segments including mobile and laptop fast chargers, and energy storage inverters.”
The project is supported by UKRI under the ‘Automotive transformation fund: moving the UK automotive sector to zero emissions’ programme. Launched in April 2018, UKRI – UK research and innovation – is a is public body sponsored by the UK Government’s department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS).
Production will be on a high volume Aixtron G5 200mm machine at the Centre’s Cardiff facility. It recently achieved ISO9001 accreditation of its internal quality management system covering development through to volume scale up.
“The HEMT fabrication process technology will leverage 30 years of silicon power device manufacturing heritage at Newport Wafer Fab [left], developed under an automotive quality – IATF 16949 – accredited volume manufacturing environment,” according to the Fab. “The epitaxial solution will leverage intellectual property developed by Compound Semiconductor Centre in partnership with its parent company IQE.”
Compound Semiconductor Centre is a joint venture between Cardiff University and IQE, founded in 2015.
“This is an exciting step towards Newport Wafer Fab’s vision of becoming a major manufacturer of compound-on-silicon products,” said its director of external affairs Sam Evans. “We see the wide bandgap power device market as an area to address in our plans to expand our current 8,000 wafer starts per week to 14,000. It’s a natural opportunity for us to pursue, given our heritage in high power silocon mosfets, IGBTs and GaN device development manufacturing.”
“This is an excellent example of two partners in the South Wales semiconductor ecosystem building on their respective technology and manufacturing strengths to offer advanced foundry services to the global semiconductor industry,” said Centre director Wyn Meredith.
Photos: MOCVD at IQE and the Newport Wafer Fab. Both are part of the compound semiconductor cluster in Wales.
