【Expert Interview】Grasp the Opportunity of the Times, Fujia Gallium Promotes the Achievements Transformation Process in the Domestic Gallium Oxide Field

In 2024, Qi Hongji took over as director of Hangzhou Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics.

ThePaper: Please introduce the transformation project of Fujia Gallium in detail.

Qi Hongji:

      Gallium Oxide belongs to the ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor material. It has larger bandwidth gap than the current Silicon Carbide, Gallium Nitride and other semiconductor materials, with strong pressure resistance and small conduction loss. In addition, due to the different preparation methods, it is determined that its crystallization efficiency is higher, so the cost is lower.

      Gallium Oxide is known as the fourth-generation semiconductor material, based on its performance and cost advantages, the future application scenarios will be more extensive, the largest application scenario is automotive. Gallium Oxide power devices in the world at present only Japan will achieve small batch sales in May and June this year. We are close to open up the single crystal - epitaxy - device - application industry chain of Gallium Oxide, device development for the actual needs of users, will be provided to typical users for device evaluation, Gallium Oxide is on the eve of industrialization, is expected to complete all product development by the end of this year. Now we are communicating with the downstream application manufacturers, hoping to be iterated in the actual application scenario as soon as possible.

ThePaper: If the enterprise is the main body of innovation, then how should the innovation of enterprises, research institutes and universities be separated and coordinated?

Qi Hongji:

      I think when more Chinese enterprises begin to attach importance to innovation, it may have an impact on the research work of universities and scientific research institutions, but it is not an impact. What enterprises do is more targeted to the market, and the research demand comes from the market, which will also form a traction on the scientific research direction of universities or research institutions. The two sides should be complementary. On the one hand, the research teams of universities and scientific research institutions carry out the original "0-1" innovation to provide high-quality "seeds" for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements; on the other hand, the research teams of universities and scientific research institutions can also combine their own research fields to serve the scientific and technological research of corresponding enterprises, playing an important role in the process of enterprise innovation.

      Fujia Gallium Industry has a very important partner -- Professor Zhang Hongliang from Xiamen University. He and his team help us to carry out the research of material doping mechanism and epitaxial film. Through the in-depth cooperation with Fujia, Professor Zhang and his team's scientific research direction is more grounded; Through the joint training of graduate students with Professor Zhang, we have further cultivated innovative and entrepreneurial compound talents for the enterprise.

      I think in the future, the cooperation between enterprises and university professors like us and Professor Zhang will be more frequent and closer. Companies are more likely to put forward requirements, but it is impossible to invest a lot of manpower on every problem, so they can only find top experts to solve it together.

ThePaper: What does epitaxial film specifically mean?

Qi Hongji:

      The industrialization of Gallium Oxide requires a complete industrial chain. Just like large silicon wafers, after obtaining high-quality Gallium Oxide substrate material, it is first necessary to make a layer of epitaxial functional film on the surface of the substrate material, and then enter the taping out segment to make various microstructures to form Gallium Oxide devices, and finally package, test and assemble into modules for users. In this process, the preparation of Gallium Oxide material is the basis, and the single crystal - epitaxy - device - application industry chain needs to be opened.

      If the "epitaxial" break point between the device and the single crystal substrate cannot be broken, it is impossible to realize the full link penetration of the Gallium Oxide device. However, due to the difficulty of epitaxy technology, large demand for single crystal substrate and large R&D investment, we have not found a suitable epitaxy technology partner in China. Starting from 2021, we decided to do it ourselves, purchased Gallium Oxide epitaxy growth equipment and test equipment, set up a Gallium Oxide research team, and found Professor Zhang Hongliang to assist us in the development of epitaxy technology. At present, we have carried out the third-party testing and device verification of the epitaxial film performance, and the results show that the epitaxial film performance is in a leading position in the domestic and international colleagues.