Page 8 - PowerUp 2021 Conference Proceedings for PEN

WIDE BANDGAP

Innoscience Moves GaN

Technology to the Next

Stage

By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, editor-in-chief of Power Electronics News

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a wide-bandgap semiconductor material, which, compared with silicon,
exhibits outstanding characteristics and performance, including high efficiency, high switching rate,
excellent thermal management, and small footprint and weight. To achieve a large adoption of GaN-
based devices in power applications, some barriers still need to be overcome, mainly related to its
large-volume manufacturing and price reduction.

During the PowerUP Virtual Expo, Denis Marcon, general manager at Innoscience, gave a presentation

on this topic. Innoscience is a leading company with a mission to make GaN technology widely
available in the market by providing best-in-class and reliable devices at the lowest price.

According to Marcon, we are entering a new phase for GaN technology where there is a need to provide
high-volume manufacturing and security of supply to support all of the new GaN-based applications
that have emerged. Additionally, there is a strong need for a significant price reduction for GaN so
that people can benefit from the technology without paying a big premium for it. Innoscience is
addressing these needs by being the largest integrated device manufacturer fully focused on GaN
technology in the world. Innoscience owns the world’s largest dedicated 8-inch GaN-on-Si wafer-

manufacturing capacity. Currently, the company is able to provide 10,000 wafers per month. This will
ramp up to 14,000 8-inch wafers per month later this year and more than 70,000 wafers per month
by 2025.

GaN technology has evolved considerably over the years. Until around 2010, companies were busy in
the R&D phase proving this innovative technology. The second phase, from 2010 to 2015, saw the first
devices coming out in the market. This represented a big change that allowed people to buy GaN

devices and start using them in real projects. Phase 3 began around 2015, when system engineers
realized that GaN was not plug-and-play. They could not just replace silicon with GaN to get a better
system; rather, they had to redesign their product to take advantage of GaN’s increased performance.

“Today, we are entering Phase 4, where we need to focus on price reduction, security of supply,
and mass manufacturing of GaN to support all of these new applications that are coming out,” said
Marcon.

FEBRUARY 2022 | www.powerelectronicsnews.com 17