The rapid development of semiconductors has placed a lot of demands on companies that manufacture integrated circuit devices. Every new silicon node brings a lot of new requirements, and it is easy to imagine that old equipment will soon become obsolete. Although this may be the case, well-designed equipment can often adapt to new task requirements.
Why is gallium nitride popular today?
Gallium nitride is one of the third-generation semiconductor materials. Among the three generations of semiconductor material development, the first-generation semiconductor materials are represented by elemental semiconductors such as silicon and germanium, which have laid the foundation for the microelectronics industry. Gallium and indium phosphide represent the foundation of the information industry.
The third-generation semiconductor materials represented by silicon carbide and gallium nitride are solid-state light sources due to their superior properties such as large forbidden band widths, high breakdown electric fields, large thermal conductivity, high electron saturation drift rate, and strong radiation resistance. And the "core" of power electronics and microwave radio frequency devices have broad application prospects in semiconductor lighting displays, next-generation mobile communications, energy Internet, high-speed rail transit, new energy vehicles, consumer electronics and other fields. Industrial transformation and upgrading and new economic growth points will play an important role.
The third generation semiconductor industry represented by gallium nitride is about to usher in an explosion. Just a few days ago, Xiaomi launched a 65W gallium nitride charger at the flagship mobile phone conference, which caused the market to pay close attention to gallium nitride. According to reports, gallium nitride materials have the advantages of high power, high frequency, and high thermal conductivity. When used in the field of charging, they can maintain high volume of the charger while maintaining the controllable volume of the charger, which has won the favor of many terminal manufacturers.
GaN application market is considerable
On the one hand, Xiaomi and many 3C power companies in this air outlet, with the advent of the wave of popularization, gallium nitride fast charge began to penetrate the mobile phone and notebook and other electronic equipment accessories market, the market capacity is expected to expand rapidly, the major mainstream power Shang and power plants are also gearing up. On the other hand, gallium nitride fast charging will gradually be used as a standard accessory for inbox by major mobile phone manufacturers, and its market size is even more impressive. It is bound to push the application of gallium nitride technology to another peak.
It is reported that 65W adapters have been adopted by the majority of mobile phone manufacturers, and 100W adapters will appear in the market in 2020. Huawei, Samsung, and Apple also have deep accumulation in GaN technology. Hisilicon and ZTE Microelectronics also have long-established layouts. According to industry sources, Huawei, vivo and other mobile phone brand manufacturers will also launch GaN chargers this year. However, some people in the industry who have used GaN chargers said that compared with Si, GaN chargers are not too small in size and have greater heating power.
The third-generation semiconductor industry represented by gallium nitride is about to usher in an explosive period. According to market research institutions, in 2024, the gallium nitride market can reach US $ 358 million only in the field of mobile phone and notebook fast charge; the market between 2018 and 2024 The compound annual growth rate of scale will be as high as 92%. Among them, the GaN fast charge market will grow by 55% between 2020 and 2023. Under optimistic conditions, the size of the GaN power market will exceed USD 750 million.
Electronic products using gallium nitride materials can achieve the characteristics of compactness, high efficiency, and low heat generation. Based on the above advantages, it can solve the 5G era of intelligent technology hardware products in energy saving, miniaturization, high power and other requirements.
In addition to the fast charge subdivision, it is usually used in the three major fields of microwave radio frequency, power electronics and optoelectronics. Specifically, the microwave radio frequency direction includes applications such as 5G communications, radar early warning, and satellite communications; the power electronics direction includes applications such as smart grids, high-speed rail transit, new energy vehicles, and consumer electronics; the optoelectronic directions include LEDs, lasers, and photodetectors, etc. application.
Take the application of gallium nitride in the radio frequency field as an example. The core of the 5G era is the 5G network. The key to the 5G network is the laying of 5G base stations. RF gallium nitride has many advantages such as greater output power, better frequency characteristics, larger instantaneous bandwidth, and smaller size. It is a 5G base station. Perfect match for power amplifier and other components.
The third-generation semiconductor industry represented by gallium nitride is about to usher in the biggest challenge of the burst period: high volume production is difficult
Because the third-generation semiconductor materials have a promising market, many manufacturers have already begun to invest in R & D very early, and they are expected to become the next-generation star. However, employees said that it is not difficult and difficult to produce a silicon carbide wafer. What is needed is how to go from one tablet to a hundred tablets or a thousand tablets in mass production capacity, which are limited by technology, patents, and cost thresholds, causing mass production challenges.
For silicon carbide, the technical difficulty lies in the first, the source of the seed crystal in the source of the crystal requires a relatively high purity and difficult to obtain.
Secondly, the growth time of crystals is quite long. For average silicon crystals, it takes about 3-4 days to grow into a crystal rod, but silicon carbide crystal rods take about 7 days. With the monitoring of the temperature and the stability of the process, so as to avoid poor yield, the lengthening of the time will increase the difficulty in the process of growing the crystal.
The third is the formation of ingots. General silicon ingots can be about 200 cm in length, but a silicon carbide ingot can only grow 2 cm, which makes it difficult to mass produce.