News: Suppliers
25 August 2020
Siltronic orders Aixtron system to ramp GaN-on-Si epi production
To strengthen its position in the emerging gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) market, silicon wafer manufacturer Siltronic AG of Munich, Germany has ordered an additional metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system to be used for the production of 150mm and 200mm GaN-on-Si epiwafers for radio-frequency (RF) and power applications.
For shipment in fourth-quarter 2020 from deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany, the AIX G5+ C system is fully automated and equipped with in-situ cleaning and a cassette-to-cassette transfer module for high epitaxial stability and low defect ratios. The Planetary Reactor includes Aixtron’s Auto-Feed Forward (AFF) individual on-wafer temperature control and has an 8x150mm and 5x200mm configuration.
RF, power devices and circuit are enabling high switching frequencies and efficient energy management with high power densities. These features are required for rapidly growing applications such as data centers, renewable energy and the next generation of wireless networks (5G), notes Aixtron. Alongside the smaller form factor, GaN-on-Si is a suitable candidate for rapid charging and car electrification.
“The GaN-on-Si market is an important future growth field. We have been very active early on within the GaN Power Program of imec, the research institute for nanoelectronics, to provide our customers with leading-edge performance,” says Siltronic’s CEO Dr Christoph von Plotho. “To position ourselves competitively in this market, we need a reactor which allows us to deliver our customers with the best performance epiwafers while ramping up volume at lowest costs. We see the AIX G5+ C as the ideal solution in this regard both for GaN Power and RF devices to serve the growing applications and megatrends. The use of GaN-on-Si technology also makes a central contribution to improving the energy balance through decarbonization,” he adds.
“GaN-on-Si technology has made impressive breakthroughs in the last years and devices are rapidly gaining acceptance into both consumer and industrial products for power and RF application,” comments Aixtron’s president Dr Felix Grawert. “The AIX G5+ C is a fully mature platform dedicated to these advanced applications.”
