Soitec unveils Gallium Arsenide substrate
The Soitec Group, manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, announced a technological development using its proprietary Smart Cutô layer-transfer and wafer-bonding technology. The company has generated a single-crystal, thin-film gallium nitride (GaN)-on-insulator substrate representing a step forward in enabling the development of high-performance blue and white light-emitting diodes (LEDs), as well as improving current and future device performance in radio-frequency (RF) and discrete power applications. This was achieved in close collaboration with Picogiga International, a Soitec Group division.
Soitecís Smart Cut technology was used by the research team to split and transfer a thin layer of GaN from a high-quality GaN donor wafer onto a carrier wafer generating a single crystal GaN-on-insulator substrate.
‘The GaN capability is a part of our roadmap strategy to develop and supply advanced engineered substrates for compound semiconductors for a variety of applications, stated Jean-Luc Ledys, chief operating officer of Picogiga International. ‘Other examples of substrates that we have either developed or are currently working on include silicon-on-polysilicon carbide (SoPSiC), silicon carbide-on-insulator (SiCOI) and silicon carbide-on-polysilicon carbide (SiCopSiC).
The GaN development process is based on growing epitaxial layers of GaN on bulk substrates, such as silicon, silicon carbide and sapphire. RF power devices and high-volume market blue and white LEDs will experience technical limitations in terms of power or brightness that require new technology solutions. By creating GaN-on-insulator substrates with high-quality GaN topsides, Soitec provides the industry with a solution to enhance the quality and performance of the active epitaxial GaN layers. Smart Cut provides the capability to optimize the substrateís mechanical and thermal properties ó independent of the topside active layer ó.