Exploring the potential of GaN in Power Electronics

1. Ecole Polytechnique X Executive Master 2017-2018 State Of The Art Project
By
Patrick BOULAUD
patrick.boulaud@polytechnique.edu
Aug 31st
, 2018
GALLIUM NITRIDE ON SILICON
SUBSTRATE (GAN-ON-SI) OR A QUEST
FOR THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY “GRAIL”
ENERGY EFFICIENCY | POWER ELECTRONICS |SEMICONDUCTORS | WIDE BAND GAP | GAN

2. 1
Abstract
The world is today confronted to multiple energy challenges driven by an increase of
its population, economic development, leading to power hungry needs and an ever
rising global emissions affecting severely the climate change, pushing world
agencies, governments, corporation to explore disruptive avenues on one hand to
generating more and cleaner energies, and on the other hand to improve energy
efficiency.
Renewable energy initiatives to mitigate energy requirements and climate change are
now part of global and government energy policies draft – i.e COP21 - with an
emphasis on development of Photovoltaics, Wind, Hydroelectric energy sources.
Likewise improving Energy efficiency is a fundamental challenge, whereby Power
Electronics must play an unavoidable and mandatory role in reducing overall losses
various power conversion stages across the fast-growing electronic-based
applications.
At the heart on this ambition, fall disruptive innovations driven by , latest active
semiconductors and passive materials and technologies in Power Electronics
After 30 years, of incremental improvement, since the “invention” of Silicon based
MOSFET Transistors, a new revolution is taking place, with the emergence of Wide
Band Gap material, such as SiC (Silicon Carbid) and GaN on Si (Gallium Nitride).
In this report, we will explore specifically the State Of the Art in GaN on Si, from
material science, its application uses, value chain, ecosystem, cost, industrialization,
key players, barriers/challenges and opportunities to potentially revolutionize the
Energy efficiency equation for a cleaner world.

3. 2
CONTENT
 100% ENERGY EFFICIENCY: THE QUEST FOR THE HOLY GRAIL
 WIDE BAND GAP SEMICONDUCTORS: THE RISE OF NEW MATERIALS
 DEFYING SICENCE: BUILDING GAN-ON-SILICON (HETERO-EPITAXY):
 IMPACT OF GAN ON POWER ELECTRONICS DESIGN ECOSYSTEM
 SUPPLY CHAIN: FABLESS AND FOUNDRY MANUFACTURING MODEL
 ENABLING NEW APPLICATION DOMAINS
 EARLY BELIEVERS AND FINANCERS: THE FORESIGHT OF A FEW
 WHAT FUTURE HOLDS FOR GAN ON SI: THE ART OF PREDICTION
 CONCLUSION
 APPENDIX
o Definition
o Worked cited
o References – Direct interviews
o Research reports - Market, technology, patents
o Major players
 ABBREVIATION GLOSSARY

4. 3
100% ENERGY EFFICIENCY: THE QUEST FOR THR “HOLY GRAIL:
For the last 60 years, since the inception of electronics enabled by the invention,
development and mass production of semiconductor technology, universities, research
institutes, electronics and semiconductors corporations have invested billions of dollars to
develop new materials, topologies to make electronics systems smaller and more efficient.
100% efficiency in electronics, in simple term, means achieving output power equals input
power, hence an endless journey to eliminate losses in all elements and sub-elements making up
the power conversion stages from the grid to the end product.
Among the largest contributors of “inefficiencies” in Power Electronics, are the passive
(inductors, capacitors, transformers)) and active (essentially diodes and transistors) devices and
are indiscriminately present at the core of any electronics systems.
Therefore, within the active semiconductor technologies, an obsessive journey has followed
over the years to aim at creating the perfect switch defined by no conduction loss, nor
switching loss (ON/OFF transient mode), regardless, current, voltage, power, temperature and
frequency levels.
The major real break through happened in 1977, with the commercialisation of silicon- based
Power MOSFET – Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor – which requires no
gate input current (in opposition to Bipolar transitor) to control the load current, while a gate
voltage (enhancement mode) is applied to control the conductivity. The MOSFET fundamental
was however discovered 20 years before in 1959.
Beyond the voltage gate drive benefit, MOSFET was able to run at much higher frequency, (
100 khz) with a low ON-resistance resulting in better converter efficiency, and the ability to
reduce converter size, making it the transistor of choice up 600V.
Over the years, incremental improvement have been made in the MOSFET figure of merit (
RdsOn x Gate Charge), increasing its power density and able to run up to 900V, and few 100
khz specially with emergence of Super Junction technology following a major change in
structural epitaxy, in the late 90s.
However, ever since, very minor enhancement has been put to life, the technology reaching it’s
physical limit in term of stability in temperature (max junction operating temperature at 150.c),
switching frequency (500khz), and maximum breakdown voltage 900V (with higher RDson,
limiting its use to the 220V AC Main and medium power. In any case, MOSFET is and remains
today the most widely used transistor technology from 30V to 900V, with the most competitive
performances/cost proposition in multiple markets.
To address the higher breakdown voltage 1200V of industrial-level power main 380V
application, a technological trade off emerged: IGBT - Insulate Gate Bipolar Transistor,
offering MOS level switching characteristics, high breakdown voltage 1700V, and Bipolar
output characteristic. IGBT is today the technology of choice in most industrial power
applications such as, variable motor drive (VMD), Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), Air

5. 4
Conditioners, Electric Vehicule Traction inverter, where high current and high voltage are
required.
Pure Silicon-based transistors are now reaching their physical limits, little to no improvement
are expected in the future, pushing researchers to explore new “exotic” semiconductor materials.
The answer is coming from what is called: Wide Bang Gap semiconductors…
THE QUEST FOR NEW MATERIAL: WIDE BAND GAP (WBG) SEMICONDUCTORS
Without entering in quantum physics of energy bands, Wide Band Gap semiconductors are
characterized by their high energy bands, and defined intrinsically by material > 1.5 eV energy
level
While Silicon (Si) shows a band gap of only 1 eV (low band gap), Gallium Nitride (GaN) and
Silicon Carbid (SiC-4H) have respectively 3.4 and 3.2 eV. The widest gap being Diamond
with 5.5 eV.
The most useful properties of WBG materials are their high temperature melting point
(>2000.c), their electrical characteristics stability at high temperature (300.c), as well as their
high breakdown voltage limit (> 1200V), allowing making them suitable for high voltage high
power application.
In addition, GaN , has a much higher electron velocity allowing them to operate at very high
frequency (several Mhz), critical parameter for energy efficiency improvement in any
electronics converter, with GaN having the highest at 2000 cm2/(V-s), making it the fastest
switching material, after diamond (4000cm2(V-s), and well ahead of Silicon (1400cm2(V-s).
GaN is binary III/V semiconductor compound, with a Wurtze, tetrahedral crystallographic
structure, which atoms bonding Ga+N, makes it a very hard structure. Its very low sensitivity to
ionizing radiation has made it the primary choice for Space (Satellite solar cells), Avionics and
Military (Radars) applications, until now.
In recent years, researches have focused on proliferating GaN material into main stream
electronic applications
While the “holly Grail” may have been found from a pure material science prospective, any new
innovation must respond to the following challenges:
 Is easy to use ?
 Is it reliable ?
 Is is manufacturable and reproductible in high volume ?
 Is it cost effective ?
 Does it open new applications and use ?
BUILDING GaN On SILICON SUBSTRATE (GaN on Si): DEFYING SCIENCE

6. 5
To give birth to a cost competitive GaN-based product, a GaN layer must be grown on high
purity Silicon substrate (111) using different epitaxial techniques (MOVPE: Metal-organic
vapor phase epitaxy) .
The benefit of using Silicon substrate rather than SiC or GaN substrates lies essentially on
wide availability and low cost silicon substrate as well as existing CMOS mass volume
manufacturing process (150 and 200mm wafers) from IDM (integrated design manufacturers )
and silicon foundries (i.e TSMC). However the challenge comes from the heteroepitaxy, the
action of merging 2 foreign materials with different crystallographic characteristics &
compatibility one on top of the other, keeping the main advantages of GaN electrical properties,
without affecting the reliability.
A short description on the GaN on Silicon process, consisst of
 Depositing an interlayer AlN (Aluminium Nitride) on top of Silicon (um thickness)
 Build GaN channel layer (150~200nm thickness)) – the active part 2DEG
 Add a GaN Barrier AlGaN (Aluminium Gallium Nitride) (20 nm thickness)
 And finally a Cap Layer (i.e SiN) at the top (50nm thickness)
This construction and the choice of interlayers material is critical to prevent weakness of
pertaining to heterojunction, which in this case is the high lattice mismatch between Silicon
and GaN, whereby high tensile strains are placed upon GaN epitaxial layers causing potential
cracks, making the wafer useless.
In addition, GaN on Silicon is a Normally On device, meaning electron flowing freely from
drain to source when the gate is biased to zero voltage. New cap layers techniques have evolved
to eventually achieve a Normally Off state at 0V biaised, making the GaN gate driving similar
to a Silicon Mosfet.
Most players, in the last 10 years, universities, researche institutes, semiconductors companies
have spent millions of dollars to optimize the epitaxial process (type of material and thickness)
to optimize compatibility, leading to the first commercial product high voltage (600V) in
2016, (1200V) in 2018
IMPACT OF GAN ON POWER ELECTRONICS DESIGN ECOSYSTEM
Because of its very high switching speed in nature, operating GaN-based converter also requires
than other components ecosystem, follow their specific characteristics, namely,
 transformers, inductors
 capacitors,
 gate drivers, and PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) controllers,
operating in the MHZ power switching environment.
The relative increasing maturity of GaN Power, has accelerated the development on the
surrounding devices, in particular Passive and Gate Drivers from top suppliers.

7. 6
Among differentiators from GaN companies, are the focus on integrating monolithically Power
section and Gate Driving section to reduce parasitic behaviours and reduce hysteresis.
SUPPLY CHAIN: FABLESS + FOUNDRY MANUFACTURING MODEL
Until recently, when GaN was not considered into mainstream power electronics, main power
semiconductors companies have positioned themselves on Power Mosfet/IGBT (silicon-based)
for volume/performances/cost/low-mid power, and on Silicon Carbid (WBG SiC on SiC)) for
high power, high frequency , high breakdown voltage(>900 V) , high performances.
In both cases (Silicon and Silicon Carbid), they have been using their own manufacturing
infrastructure (epitaxy) to load and optimize their manufacturing costs, rather than using
foundries.
In comparison, and to the surprise of most, the spectacular development in GaN on Silicon
have been led by several start ups (fabless model, no manufacturing), funded by venture
capital companies , mostly from USA (EPC, Navitas, Transphorm, GaN Systems), but also in
Europe by spin off of research centers (EpiGan -IMEC, Exagan-CEA/Leti).
The massive manufacturing Capex required for production, has led GaN Power start ups to
outsource manufacturing to major foundries, among them the largest one being TSMC (Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation). Those foundries buying process manufacturing IPs
under license from research institutes, while Start ups provide product design IPs.
This allows start ups to be more agile and focus on “Education” and Go To Market Strategy
rather than worrying about manufacturing challenges
GaN-ON-Si: ENABLING AND UPGRADING APPLICATION DOMAINS
Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Data Centers, Industrial, Renewable Energies
Reconnecting with the fundamental quest of boosting Energy Efficiency (at competitive cost) in
existing or/and fast emerging future power-hungry applications, GaN Power technology is
trying to find its position in several segments. The core objectives remain to achieve higher
efficiency, high power density, lower size, lighter converters at competitive cost
Automotive electrification system (EV) is becoming one of the major power user for the
years to come supported by global and national initiatives and various regulations on CO2
emission. Automotive , charging stations manufacturers, and their electronics design
subcontractors are focusing on long battery autonomy (distance), battery weight , and ultrafast
charging solutions to compete in this sphere. Power architecture, topology, and semiconductors
(SiC and GaN) are at the core of this battle.
In a new electric vehicule, there are 2 main converter blocks:
 On Board Charger (OBC) AC/DC or DC/DC - Charging block

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 3 Phase Traction Inverter DC/DC - electric propulsion motor
On the Onboard Charging block, GaN can increase the Power Factor Corrector (PFC)
efficiency up to 99%, as well as the primary AC/DC converter stage, allowing ultrafast
charging performances.
At the traction inverter level (3P motor), GaN performances and higher power density
(versus IGBT and SiC) can convert power more efficiently, optimising space with limited
heatsink to transfer heat energy loss and therefore can allow longer vehicule battery autonomy
(longer traveling distance for the same power input).
However, the yet to be proven GaN reliability (automotive Grade AEC Q101 qualification) in
harsh temperature environment for Automotive (EV) may delay its adoption in EV Traction
Inverter, while SiC is now gradually adopted owing to its higher maturity.
Consumer Electronics
The main target of GaN into Consumer Electronics sector is where power density, system cost,
size matter
Among the main beneficial applications are
 High Power Density Adaptors for Notebook and Smartphone
 Wireless Charging (Qi, Airfuel protocol) – 15W
 High Wireless Power Chargers > 250 Watt
The advance in new protocol definition such as USB Power Delivery (USB-PD 3.0) using
GaN Power allows ultrafast charging up to 100W using with power charger size reduced by a
factor 3. Using ultra high switching GaN Power (MHZ range) reduce the size of the coil
(magnetic and capacitor) and can pack more power. The advantages for the user becomes
obvious.
Until now, Wireless Chargers despite of its high hope of proliferation for the last 5 years, has
been limited (more a marketing gadget), essentially due to long charging time, energy transfer
low efficiency, and poor design flexibility.
More recently, Airfuel Consortium, using magnetic resonance topology, and GaN Power device
has enabled high efficiency wireless charging with spatial freedom, running at 6.7 and 13.2
Mhz, (15W) within small form factor packaging.
In a similar fashion, prototyping Wireless Charging for high Power 250W+ will enable safe
charging of multiple devices (Monitor, LED lamps, Notebook, Smarphones) using an antenna
build within a charging desk or table. Of course, this being subjected to regulatory approval for
safety (for human beings) using RF Power radiations.

9. 8
Data Centers
Among the very fast growing energy-hungry applications, are the datac centers, fuelled by
Internet connectivity, Cloud Analytics, Storage, Artificial Intelligence, Video Streaming, IoT,
Social Medias, and may represent 5% of the Worldwide Energy consumptions in the next 5
years.
On that front, major technology breakthrough are being observed, such as server power
architecture moving from 48- 12 - 1V to direct 48 to 1V conversion. Likewise, major advance
in low power processing chips (MPU, CPU, MVU) but reaching their own theorical limits.
On the power side, 30~100V GaN Power devices is playing a crucial role, replacing Silicon
Mosfet in Cloud and Storage Server Power converters, bringing more Revenue per Server (for
the operators), limiting expenses on cooling systems, and infrastructure Capex. In fact a GaN-
powered converter can lift up the system efficiency (48V rail to 1V CPU/MPU and DDR4
Memory rack) from 86% to 90%, and considering the Megawatts of running, it is a
tremendous saving in space, power, and cost,

10. 9
Renewable Energies and Industrial
Likewise in the Renewable Energies sector, and in particular, Photovoltaics (PV) and Wind
Power, the different power stages efficiency DC/DC (DC voltage boost from solar panel),
DC/AC (from Continuous to Alternative Voltage/Current) is at the heart of Power system
designers headache
Considering that for instance PV solar cell efficiency (Mono or Polysilicon) is rather low at
20~25% efficiency. Originally, designed around 600-1200V IGBT devices, new electronic
design are building in either Silicon Carbid, or GaN-based solutions, in order to achieve 98 to
99% efficiency. Silicon Carbid (SiC) is at this stage the preferred choice at 1200V
specification (380 AC Line) due to its maturity, while GaN gaining ground at 600V
specification (220V AC Line)
The Industrial sector is not left behind, with massive power usage and power transistors to
operate Industrial-grade 3 Phase Motors, variable frequency motorss for factory automation and
robotics, as well as Online and offline UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
Enabling the rise LIDAR – Light Distance Detection & Ranging
LIDAR Laser Sensing technology is gaining increasingly ground in professional applications
but also fast emerging consumer applications, such as Autonomous Driving. In fact, LIDAR
(NIR) Near InfraRed) in combination with 76-81Ghz Radar, CMOS Camera and Acoustic
sensors complete the spectrum of sensing technology to provide a high definition digital
mapping of the environment. Until recently, powering LIDAR laser was both very bulky andn
costly, limiting it use to non-cost non-space sensitive environment.
GaN with its unique e-HEMT (High Electron Mobility) and low RDson (Low On Resistance),
is able to power high current pulse (several ampers) , short pulse duration (5~10ns) at high NIR
frequency, with a very small form factor, making it suitable for LIDAR Autonomous driving
solution.
EARLY BELIEVERS AND EARLY FINANCERS: THE FORESIGHT OF A FEW
Like in many new uprising technologies to see the business daylight, there are always a credible
scientific and business ground, as well the “planets alignment” timing.
On a macroeconomic and planet-conscious level governed by international and national
initiatives, in the last 15 years, 2 main energy drivers have emerged to support the increasing
population and energy use by inhabitant: New and clean Energy sources and Energy
Efficiency.
On technology level pertaining to electronics and power semiconductors, supported by
universities, research institutes, European institutes, federal ( USA) efforts, an acceleration in
research to identify new materials has been experience faster than ever before. On the Power
Semiconductors specific domain, attention was dedicated to build the perfect “Transistor”

11. 10
Wide Band Gap (SiC and GaN), materials appeared in tne light of sight as the ideal candidates
in the energy efficiency battle to enhance power performances, however, SiC has the edge due
to his relative proof of concept maturity and earlier investments (both manufacturing and
reliability SiC on SiC substrate) . As a result, major Power Semiconductors companies
(Infineon, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Rohm, STMicroelectronics) shifted their focus on SiC technology
and product road maps. In addition, with SiC, they could use their own manufacturing epitaxial
process, loading their factory and reduce cost.
The importance of the start up Management team profile in the first VC Funding
However between, 2010~2015, state of the art research and conclusive progress to make GaN
On Silicon process an industrial reality, to achieve SiC level performances or higher, at Silicon
Mosfet theorical cost, has led to the emergence of more than 5 start ups, backed by Venture
Capital funds. This early confidence was also due to the fact that their founders (CEO, CTO)
and management teams had both successful business track-records and numerous patents
filing, from their previous employers…..the large Power Semiconductors companies.
With this credible baggage and wealth of experience, innovation mindsets and records, they
were able to successively raise multi-Millions Serie A, B, C until now to build up GaN ON Si,
Silicon IPs, Silicon Design releasing their first commercial products in 2016, and using the
latest funding Series to enhance road maps and Go To Market: Hiring massively Sales,
Marketing, Field Application Engineers, as well as opening offices worldwide and seeking
Value Added Resellers partners for deployment in the open market.
Joining force on building technology reputation and acceptance before competing later
Interestingly, because GaN-on-Si was seen still as a risky bet for venture capital financers, it
appears that all those start ups had an early implicit multilateral agreement
1/ to work and develop different products specification in term of voltage, integration,
topology and application so they wouldn’t compete each other in the early stage and fasten their
return on investment protecting margin
2/ to work together to raise awareness educate the world about Power GaN-on-SI versus
Silicon Mosfet and Silicon Carbid at Standardisation Committee level (JEDEC- committee for
defining electronic device spec), IEEE, Power Supply Associations, (USA< China) , Power
Technologies events and symposiums (i.e PCIM), and major power semiconductors users in
Automotive, Industrial, Telecom Infrastructure, Consumer Electronics, Advanced Computing
fields.
WHAT FUTURE HOLDS FOR GAN-ON-SI: THE ART OF PREDICTION
In the previous pages, we have described the GaN-on-Si, from its genesis to the most updated
State, fact-based, covering material science dimension of Wide Band Gap semiconductors, the

12. 11
challenges of processing and manufacturing hetero-epitaxy in volume with high reliability, the
benefits in term of cost and performances enabling new applications domains, as well as
covering the major stakeholders – start ups and financing players – driving the emergence of a
commercial and viable alternative technology competing or/and complementing Silicon Carbid
and Mosfet technologies toward value creation in boosting Energy Efficiency in Power
Electronics.
In this final section, the author will express his own view and opinion on possible scenarios,
along the GaN-On-Si value chain, the potential accelerators and limiters in technology adoption
an pervasiveness, and how the competitive landscape may evolve from today’s state of the art
Material Science IPs: from Public, Private Research Centers & Corporate R&D
Reducing GaN-On-Si manufacturing defect – inherent to hetero-epitaxy in particular the
difference in lattice constant and thermal coefficient of expansion (TCE) from GaN and
Silicon – hence, increasing reliability and reducing manufacturing cost, will be at the forefront
of an epic investment IPs and patent battle from various Research Centers.
Mastering hetero-epitaxy will open the possibility to move to higher wafer diameters (8~12”),
reducing further the GaN-On-Si cost, specially at 600V high volume, and also leverage entry on
the most profitable product segment at 1200V+ (Electric Vehicle, Renewable Energy,
Industrial), today occupied by IGBT and Silicon Carbid, the fastest growing power market.
Public and Private Centers would monetize their know-how and IPs through transfer of
technology under license (with or without royalties) to semiconductors foundries, or
Semiconductors Independent Design and Manufacturing (IDM) , while Corporate R&D (in-
house development), would use their IPs for their own GaN-On-Si product road maps and
manufacturing. In turn, GaN-On-Si foundries will feed their current fabless GaN customers,
and pave the way for the emergence of GaN players, as cost goes down.
Silicon Design IPs for Product Road Map: Fabless and IDM
As described earlier, GaN-On-Si early traction, and first commercialized products, has been
driven by fabless companies (essentially USA start ups backed by USA venture capital
operators), each of them focusing on a specific product specification and design IPs, rarely
overlapping nor competing each other so to generate fast ROI (Return On Investment) for their
investors, and validate the technology for commercial use. However, focusing on faster
growth will now require an acceleration of product development road maps, and launch of
multiple products which inevitably will lead to competing each other directly.
Therefore, on product and silicon design IPs, we can also predict that an heavy battle will take
place in the IPs and patent sector, to create and increase entry barriers to each other
(limiting ther potential for growth), and it is unlikely that any start ups will violate patents
considering the resources and cost linked to lawsuits.
What are the new products likely to be developed after main stream Low Voltage 30~200V
Discretes and mainstream High Volta 600V Discrete products ?

13. 12
My assumption is that we will see more
 Integration 600V(System On Chip, System On Package): GaN Mosfet + Drivers
 Higher Voltage 1200V+ and later Integration
Finally, GaN on Si, is not an exclusive territory for fabless and foundries companies, and we
start to see the rise of big IDMs - in June 2018, Infineon, the largest power semiconductor
officially announced his entry into GaN power market, which precludes more actions ahead.

14. 13
Customers view and prospective: Acceptance and Resistance on GaN-On-Si
Unlike digital semiconductor technology ultrafast dynamic (Memory, CPU, Application
Processor, Digital ASICs), Power semiconductors development and adoption have been
much slower for multiple reasons, which we will not develop here, nevertheless, it is a fact that
Digital technologies have attracted far people than Power in recent years, linked to massive
investments in R&D technology and resources and more risk taking while Power grown slowly
but steadily.
In power semiconductors sector, customers take several years to validate and adopt a new
power technology (Bipolar, then Mosfet, then IGBT then Silicon Carbid). GaN-On-Si is no
exception, however, I expect the adoption to be much faster this time driven by an amazing
appetite for massive power efficiency improvement , as well as cost reduction (specially versus
Silicon Carbid)
What are top challenges which need to be overcome for Power suppliers
 Proven reliability and reproductibility in volume production
 Capacity investment and supply stability
 Multi-sourcing options
 Engineering Resources invested by customers to validate a new technology
 Engineering Resources invested by supplier to support customer design work
 Inter technology comparison performance cost.
 Initial cost and cost-down road map visibility.
This set of criteria implies that GaN-On-Si (specially High Voltage 600V) is tested, validated,
and adopted in lower risk applications, like Consumer electronics (USB Adaptor, Wireless
Power, Audio Systems) , before moving to other applications such Industrial Power,
Renewable Energies or Electric Vehicle whereby the liability is much higher. Expectedly,
adoption in Electric Vehicule shall come last, first with Onboard Charging and finally Motor
Traction Inverter)
What might be Competitive Landscape in the next 5 years or even before….?
Predicting a competitive landscape or forecasting a market revenue 5 years from now, is always
a delicate exercise considering the multiple factors at play. However, here is the author’s
predictive model and impact.
The current dynamics in GaN-on-Si, ranging from technology rising maturity, the exceptional
growth rate of number of commercially available devices, the standardisation of specifications
effort, the emergence of new players and the associated VC funding, the continuous funding on
existing GaN players to feed product and technology road maps, the highly visible go-to-market
expenses (opening worldwide offices, decentralized engineering support centers), and first
design Wins, indicates the GaN-on-Si technology will find revenue traction sooner than later
and build his positioning in between MOSFET, IGBT, Silicon Carbid and from a base of 40
Musd in 2017 to expectedly 500 Musd by 2022 with a CAGR of +40%.

15. 14
It remains a mystery as who will take the leadership, however, we can envision that first
cross-licensing in GaN-on-Si technology will happen among the startups to accelerate
penetration and reach a critical mass in product offerings and revenue stream, a fundamental
element to sustain long termpresence in Power Semiconductors.
In addition, GaN-On-Si may also experience a wave of mergers following a strategy of
reaching the same critical mass. At some point, some Venture Capital companies may exit, and
we may expect entry of either new hedge funds, final customers or even IDM Power
Semiconductors to take over to drive the expansion, as the level of confidence in the technology
increases.
Finally, and not the least, IDMs (major Power Semiconductors players), to invest either
acquisitions or boost in-house development, to complete profitably their product portfolios.
There, timing will be of the essence – not too early, as to ensure real business foundations are
present, and not too late, as acquisitions may cost more later.
CONCLUSION
Unlike in the past history in Power Semiconductors technology introduction dynamics which
has always been relatively conservative, at least versus their “digital” peers, the rising
worldwide concerns over Global Warming trend, and an expected high demand in Energy needs
have put in motion the quest for searching new vectors for Energy Efficiency improvement.
Power Electronics applications being major consumers of energy, managing its efficiency is
part of government and corporate initiatives to endlessly come up with technology solutions to
reduce the carbon footprint.
GaN-On-Si, alongside other new materials, especially Wide Band Gap (WBG), shall play a
crucial role assuming it is reliable and cost effective, which in my opinion appears to be, and
shall also be a benchmark in accelerating adoption of New Power technologies for commercial
use across various industries, with small start ups revitalizing and stimulating the
momentum…as the world has experience in the Digital World.
In its own dimension GaN-On-Si will contribute to make the world a better place for the future
generation…
END OF THE REPORT
Patrick BOULAUD
Aug 31st
, 2018

16. 15
APPENDIX
Definitions
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-bandgap_semiconductor#Use_in_devices
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_nitride
Works Cited
Chen, K. J., Häberlen, O., Lidow, A., Tsai, C. L., Ueda, T., Uemoto, Y., & Wu, Y. (2017).
GaN-on-Si Power Technology: Devices and Applications. IEEE Transactions on
Electron Devices, 64(3), 779-795. Retrieved 4 7, 2018, from
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7862945
Gachovska, T. K., & Hudgins, J. L. (2018). 5 – SiC and GaN Power Semiconductor Devices.
Retrieved 4 14, 2018, from
https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/b9780128114070000052
Meneghini, M., Hilt, O., Wuerfl, J., & Meneghesso, G. (2017). Technology and Reliability of
Normally-Off GaN HEMTs with p-Type Gate. Energies, 10(2), 1-15. Retrieved 4 7,
2018, http://mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/2/153
Roccaforte, F., Fiorenza, P., Greco, G., Nigro, R. L., Giannazzo, F., Iucolano, F., & Saggio, M.
(2018). Emerging trends in wide band gap semiconductors (SiC and GaN) technology
for power devices. Microelectronic Engineering, 66-77. Retrieved 4 7, 2018, from
https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0167931717303970
References / Direct Interviews
Navitas Semiconductors: Stephen Oliver Worldwide (Gachovska & Hudgins, 2018) VP Sales
Delta Electronics (Taiwan): James Tang, General Manager IEV Product Group
Cy Lin, Advanced Technology Director IEV Product Group
Huntkey (China): William Du – Chief Technology Officer

17. 16
Research Reports - Markets, Technology, Patents
Wide Band Gap:
https://www.pntpower.com/wide-bandgap-semiconductors-essential-to-our-technology-future/
Wide Band Gap material:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o85J15WqxI
Layering GaN on Silicon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJqY00xPWmY
GaN Atomic & crystallographic structure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOS6gWUCMis&t=195s
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/gan-gallium-nitride-semiconductor-
devices-market
https://www.mouser.com/applications/gan-power-devices/
Research Report Insights: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110114769/GaN-
Semiconductor-Market
IHS: https://technology.ihs.com/602187/market-for-gan-and-sic-power-semiconductors-to-top-
10-billion-in-2027
IHS https://technology.ihs.com/602187/market-for-gan-and-sic-power-semiconductors-to-top-
10-billion-in-2027
Marketand Market: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/gallium-nitride-
wafer-market-93870461.html
GaNex : http://www.knowmade.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/GANEX_IIIN_No65.pdf
Yole Development:
http://www.yole.fr/iso_upload/News/2017/PR_POWER_GAN_Market_Investments_YOLE_O
ct2017_UPDATED.pdf
https://www.systemplus.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Yole_YDPE17044_Power-
GaN2017_Flyer-1.pdf
Coherent Market Insights: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/gan-
power-device-market-1221
GaN supply chain: https://epc-o.com/epc/CEOInsights/FastJustGotFasterBlog/Issue7.aspx
I-Micronews: Cost-Reversing (example) https://www.i-
Micronews.com/images/SAMPLES/POWER/Yole_SP18391_GaN_Systems_GS61004B_sampl
e_System_Plus_Consulting.pdf?utm_source=info.yole.fr/SPC&utm_medium=email&utm_cam
paign=r_GaN_Systems_UnitedSiC_June2018
KnowMade Patent and Technology Intelligence: http://www.knowmade.com/downloads/iii-
n-patent-watch/
GaN Actors and Competitors

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Navitas Semiconductors (USA): http://www.navitassemi.com
EPC (USA): http://www.epc.com
GaN Systems (USA): http://www.gansystems.com
Infineon (EU): https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/power/gallium-nitride-gan/
Transphorm+Fujitsu (USA/JP): http://www/.transphormusa.com
EpiGan (EU): http://www.epigan.com
Exagan (EU) : http//:www.exagan.com
Panasonic (JP) :
https://industrial.panasonic.com/ww/products/semiconductors/powerics/ganpower
Visic (Israel): http://www.visic-tech.com
Infineon (Germany) : https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/power/wide-band-gap-
semiconductors-sic-gan/gallium-nitride-gan/
ABBREVIATION
GAN On SI: Gallium Nitride on Silicon substrate
AlGaN: Aluminium Gallium Nitride
WBG: Wide Band Gap
MOSFET: Metal Oxyde Field Effect Transistor
IGBT: Insulated Gate Bipolar Transitor
MOCVD: Metal Oxyde Chemical Vaporized Deposition
SiC: Silicon Carbid
FOM: Figure of Merit
TCE: Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
IDM: Integrated Design and Manufacturing
VC: Venture Capital

19. 18