23 February 2015

Ammono begins fabrication of 2-inch semi-insulating GaN substrates for space application

Ammono S.A. in Warsaw, Poland, which produces bulk gallium nitride (GaN) using ammonothermal technology, has developed a new type of highly resistive 2-inch Ammono-GaN semiconductor crystal with high structural quality - as confirmed by narrow x-ray diffraction (XRD) rocking curves (20 arcsec) - and large curvature radius (reaching a few hundred of meters). The resistivity, estimated by capacitive and microwave methods, is at least 1010Ωcm, proving the extremely isolating properties of the new material, says the firm.

The crystals have been used successfully for the production of 2-inch highly resistive substrates. The work was performed in the framework of the European Space Agency PECS program 'Low Dislocation GaN for Space Applications' under contract number 4000108320/13/NL/KML, supervised by ESA's Dr Andrew Barnes.

The new type of Ammono highly resistive material has been developed in response to specific demands for future semiconductor materials used in space technology. "Our new semi-insulating Ammono-GaN substrates enable efficient epitaxy and processing of GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs)," says Dr Marcin Zając, senior scientist & project coordinator at Ammono. "High substrate resistivity prevents parasitic current leakage in lateral transistors, which is necessary for proper operation of the final device," he adds. "Moreover, it is expected, that the offered very low dislocation density of the Ammono-GaN substrate and epitaxial device structure is a key issue in device reliability, which is essential for application of the developed material in space electronics - transistors for RF communication, radars, DC-DC power converters, high-efficiency solar panels and many others".

The detailed parameters and measurement results were presented by Zając last September at the ESA 7th Wide Band Gap Semiconductor and Components Workshop (ESA-ESRIN 2014) in Frascati (Rome), Italy.

Ammono says that it is interested in establishing commercial and scientific collaboration, in the frame of both domestic and international projects.

Tags: Ammono HVPE GaN substrates

Visit: www.ammono.com