Infineon Technologies AG has progressed in its development of what it claims is the first 300 mm gallium nitride (GaN) power wafers with new handling and processing technologies for the wafers.
This comes just a few months after Infineon announced it had successfully developed a 300 mm GaN wafer in September.
The wafer only has a 20-micrometer thickness and 300 mm in diameter, about a quarter as thick as a human hair and half as thick as current state-of-the-art wafers of 40 micrometers to 60 micrometers. The handling and processing technologies will help increase energy efficiency, power density and reliability in power conversion solutions for applications in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers as well as consumer, motor control and computing.
Infineon said about half the thickness of a wafer reduces its substrate resistance by 50% and reduces power loss by more than 15% in power systems compared to traditional silicon wafers. To reach a 20 micrometer thickness, Infineon engineers used a wafer grinding approach that influences handling and processing the backside of the thin wafer.
Additionally, the manufacturing techniques allow for the GaN wafer to be seamlessly integrated into existing high-volume silicon production lines without incurring additional manufacturing complexity, the company said.
Why it matters
The race is on to develop and commercial deploy 300 mm wide bandgap technology wafers. Wide bandgap technologies — like GaN and silicon carbide (SiC) — are becoming the preferred technology used in thriving and emerging power applications such as electric vehicles, renewable energy sources, consumer electronics and industrial power systems.
Currently, all wide bandgap power semiconductor wafers are manufactured in 200 mm wafer fabs. The larger surface area the 300 mm wafers would allow power chips to achieve:
- Higher yield
- Improved yield
- Lower costs
- Reduce processing costs
- Better integration with packaging technologies
- Increased throughput
- More automation potential
Other companies are developing their own 300 mm GaN wafers to take advantage of these benefits. Recently, Texas Instruments said it has started its own pilot project for 300 mm GaN wafers. The company said its GaN manufacturing processes are fully transferable to 300 mm technology, which would allow it to scale GaN production even further when these wafers are available.
It is likely that other wide bandgap manufacturers — like Wolfspeed, Onsemi and GlobalFoundries — may be next to take power semiconductor manufacturing to the next level with its own 300 mm developments. Or the sector could see further collaboration to reach this level.
