+44 (0)24 7671 8970
More publications     •     Advertise with us     •     Contact us
 
News Article

GaN "˜Tangos' with Silicon to Overcome Material Limitations

News

UC San Diego team grow crack-free 19-micron-thick layers of GaN on silicon

Researchers at the Integrated Electronics and Biointerfaces Group at UC San Diego led by electrical engineering professor Shadi Dayeh have solved a classical problem of thermal mismatch when growing GaN on foreign substrates.

The origin of the problem is well known: high quality material deposition is usually carried out near 1,000degC, but when dissimilar materials are cooled down to room temperature, their contraction can be disproportionate, resulting in the formation of cracks and material failure.

Because the crack severity depends on the thickness of the layers, the thickest pure and semiconducting GaN layer that can be grown on silicon is 4.5µm thick - too thin to provide good use of GaN for high power (kilovolt-scale) applications which require much thicker layers (10 microns or more).

In an article published on Aug. 21 in Advanced Materials, the San Diego team combined fundamental crystal properties of GaN and geometrical effects to deflect strain from the crystal planes that usually crack under stress to the surface facets that can freely expand and contract in response to stress.

By doing so, they were able to grow crack-free 19-micron-thick layers of GaN on Si "” thicker than what's needed for high-power applications. In the resulting structures, both GaN and Si had exposed surfaces to enable them to move, twist or 'tango' together without cracking despite their thermal mismatch.

Thick layers also allowed the crystal defects "” threading dislocations "” to reduce from commonly achieved 108 "“ 109 per cm2 on Si to 107. And with the high material quality, Dayeh and his team demonstrated the first vertical GaN switches on silicon.

"This is the result of nearly four years of diligent efforts by graduate student Atsunori Tanaka, who learned and quickly excelled in the GaN MOCVD here at UC San Diego," said Dayeh. "A group of very talented students including Atsunori Tanaka, Woojin Choi, who fabricated the vertical switches, and Renjie Chen, who did the electron microscopy, have teamed up to complete the research," Dayeh continued. Based on this work, Dayeh received funding in July from the National Science Foundation to realise a monolithically integrated GaN power converter on Si.

The growth, device fabrication and characterisation were performed at UC San Diego and the electron microscopy was performed at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), a Department of Energy Office of Basic Science user facility that provides access to top-of-the-line equipment under a user proposal system.

Purdue, imec, Indiana announce partnership
Resilinc partners with SEMI on supply chain resilience
NIO and NXP collaborate on 4D imaging radar deployment
Panasonic Industry digitally transforms with Blue Yonder
Global semiconductor sales decrease 8.7%
MIT engineers “grow” atomically thin transistors on top of computer chips
Keysight joins TSMC Open Innovation Platform 3DFabric Alliance
Leti Innovation Days to explore microelectronics’ transformational role
Quantum expansion
indie launches 'breakthrough' 120 GHz radar transceiver
Wafer fab equipment - facing uncertain times?
Renesas expands focus on India
Neuralink selects Takano Wafer Particle Measurement System
Micron reveals committee members
Avoiding unscheduled downtime in with Preventive Vacuum Service
NFC chip market size to surpass US$ 7.6 billion
Fujifilm breaks ground on new €30 million European expansion
Fraunhofer IIS/EAS selects Achronix embedded FPGAs
Siemens announces certifications for TSMC’s latest processes
EU Chips Act triggers further €7.4bn investment
ASE recognised for excellence by Texas Instruments
Atomera signs license agreement with STMicroelectronics
Gartner forecasts worldwide semiconductor revenue to decline 11% in 2023
CHIPS for America outlines vision for the National Semiconductor Technology Center
TSMC showcases new technology developments
Alphawave Semi showcases 3nm connectivity solutions
Greene Tweed to open new facility in Korea
Infineon enables next-generation automotive E/E architectures
Global AFM market to reach $861.5 million
Cepton expands proprietary chipset
Semtech adds two industry veterans to board of directors
Specialty gas expansion
×
Search the news archive

To close this popup you can press escape or click the close icon.
Logo
×
Logo
×
Register - Step 1

You may choose to subscribe to the Silicon Semiconductor Magazine, the Silicon Semiconductor Newsletter, or both. You may also request additional information if required, before submitting your application.


Please subscribe me to:

 

You chose the industry type of "Other"

Please enter the industry that you work in:
Please enter the industry that you work in: