6 March 2014

EpiGaN appoints Siemens/Infineon power semiconductor veteran as chairman

III-nitride epitaxial material supplier EpiGaN nv of Hasselt, Belgium has appointed Claus Geisler as chairman of the board of directors.

The firm says that Geisler has extensive expertise in the semiconductor industry, executive management and the investment community. Geisler holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld, and has more than 40 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. After several management positions, he has worked for the last 18 years at Siemens/Infineon in Munich (where most of his time was dedicated to the power semiconductor business, in which Infineon is the market leader). Geisler retired as a senior VP at Infineon and as a board member of the automotive division.

Incorporated in 2010, EpiGaN was founded by chief executive officer Dr Marianne Germain, chief technology officer Dr Joff Derluyn, and chief operating officer Dr Stefan Degroote, as a spin-off of nanoelectronics research center Imec of Leuven, Belgium. The founders jointly developed gallium nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) technology on 4” and 6” wafers at Imec, part of which has been licensed to EpiGaN. In mid-2012, EpiGaN closed its first capital round of €4m, to allow it to start volume production of GaN-on-Si epitaxial material. Investors include Capricorn Cleantech Fund, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, and LRM.

“Geisler will play a key role in setting the strategic direction of the company,” says Germain.

“I look forward working with the management team to drive EpiGaN‘s expansion and to grow the business globally,” says Claus Geisler. “EpiGaN will play an important role in the industrialization of GaN (gallium nitride) technology in the near future,” he believes.

Tags: EpiGaN GaN-on-Si

Visit: www.epigan.com