【World Express】Fierce Competition for the Development of Next Generation Semiconductor Power Devices of Ga₂O₃

Competition for the development of next generation power semiconductor gallium oxide is intensifying.

  Competition for the development of next generation power semiconductor gallium oxide is intensifying.Companies have successfully made wafers of a certain size, and focus on the internal development of power devices of gallium oxide.

Clean room of NCT. Start to accelerate the fabrication of equipment containing 4-inch epitaxial wafers for future mass production

  Novel Crystal Technology, Inc. (NCT, Sayama，Saitama ) was established on the basis of the R&D department of Tamura Company,  The advantages of β-Ga2O3 lie in its crystal growth speed and ease to process.

  The company intends to achieve the sale of the current controlled Schottky barrier diode (SBD) product in 2023 and the transistors  product in 2025.

  FLOSFIA Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto), a start-up company of Kyoto University, uses α-Ga₂O₃.FLOSFIA demonstrated a SBD with α-Ga₂O₃ in the exhibition, which is used in a DC/DC buck converter , and started part of the mass production plan of the SBD this year.

DC/DC buck converter with  SBD embedded with Ga₂O₃ from FLOSFIA

  C&A (Aoba-ku, Sendai), a start-up company originate from Tohoku  University, is seeking reduces cost use the same β-Ga₂O₃ as that of NCT. C&A has developed a crystal that can be grown without using a noble metal crucible. The production cost can be greatly reduced by not using expensive iridium.

  The current business model is mainly focused on the supply of wafers. The company plans to launch 2-inch wafers within two years.

  In 2022, the global power semiconductor market will be 2338.6 billion yen, an increase of 11.8% over the previous year (survey by  FUJI KEIZAI CO., LTD.). Next generation semiconductors, such as SiC and Ga₂O₃, will account for about 5% of this market, which is expected to expand more than 13 times by 2030, exceeding 1 trillion yen.