【Member News】The cost of gallium oxide epitaxial wafers has been reduced by over 10 times. The fourth-generation semiconductor manufacturer "Gallium Future" has secured tens of millions in angel round financing

      Gallium Future Semiconductor Technology (Jinjiang) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gallium Future") recently announced the completion of a multi - million - level angel round of financing. The investors include Juzhuo Capital - Jinjiang Talent and Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Xinfengze Semiconductor, and individual investors. The funds will be used to increase the production capacity of epitaxial wafers and accelerate the industrialization process of the fourth - generation semiconductor materials.

      Founded in July 2025, Gallium Future focuses on the R & D and industrialization of the fourth - generation ultra - wide bandgap semiconductor material - gallium oxide epitaxial wafers. Currently, it has the small - batch production capacity of heterogeneous epitaxial wafers. The founding team members of the company are all doctors in microelectronics and solid - state electronics. They started to engage in the research of wide - bandgap semiconductor silicon carbide and gallium oxide materials and devices in 2015 and have accumulated nearly 10 years of experience in all industrial chain links such as material epitaxial growth, doping, and device preparation.

      The core products of Gallium Future are a series of gallium oxide epitaxial wafers, including the product lines of gallium oxide homo - epitaxial wafers and heterogeneous epitaxial wafers, covering sapphire - based, silicon carbide - based, and silicon - based gallium oxide epitaxial wafers, which can meet the needs of different application scenarios. Currently, it has established cooperative relationships with more than 20 scientific research institutions and signed procurement contracts with multiple semiconductor customers.

I. Heterogeneous Epitaxy + Self - developed Equipment to Solve the Pain Points of Gallium Oxide Industrialization

      The third - generation semiconductor materials represented by silicon carbide and gallium nitride have received extensive attention and achieved application breakthroughs. With the continuous improvement of the performance requirements of high - power devices, gallium oxide is regarded as an ideal fourth - generation power semiconductor material due to its advantages such as ultra - wide bandgap and high breakdown electric field.

      "As a fourth - generation semiconductor material, the performance advantages of gallium oxide are revolutionary." The founder of Gallium Future introduced that gallium oxide has an ultra - wide bandgap width of 4.9eV, far exceeding 3.3eV of silicon carbide and 3.4eV of gallium nitride; the critical breakdown electric field is as high as 8MV/cm, more than three times that of silicon carbide; the Baliga figure of merit reaches 3444, four times that of gallium nitride and ten times that of silicon carbide. "These parameters mean that gallium oxide has extremely low on - state losses in power device applications. The power loss is only 1/7 of that of silicon carbide and 1/49 of that of silicon, which is of great significance for improving energy conversion efficiency."

      The improvement of power conversion efficiency is of great significance for applications in fields such as new energy vehicles and photovoltaic inverters. At the same time, the response characteristics of gallium oxide in the solar - blind ultraviolet band fill the market gap and are expected to expand ultra - high - voltage application scenarios above 3000V.

      However, on the other side of the superior performance is the R & D difficulty. The founder of Gallium Future admitted that the industrialization of gallium oxide has long faced problems such as excessively high substrate costs, insufficient epitaxial supply, and limitations in material performance.

      In terms of substrate costs, currently, iridium crucibles are required for the growth of gallium oxide substrates. Due to the very high cost of precious metals such as iridium, the price of domestic 2 - inch gallium oxide substrates is still as high as about 20,000 yuan, more than 40 times the price of silicon carbide of the same or larger size, which seriously restricts the industrialization process.

      In the epitaxial link, the domestic epitaxial industry is still in its early stage. Existing products have problems such as small size, thin thickness, and low mobility, which will affect indicators such as product cost, integration, withstand voltage reliability, and energy efficiency, and affect the application and implementation of products.

      In terms of material performance, gallium oxide materials have the characteristic of an ultra - wide bandgap, but the p - type doping technology is still a recognized problem in the industry so far. At the same time, the thermal conductivity of the material itself is also relatively low, which greatly limits the potential of gallium oxide.

Gallium Future's self - developed HVPE equipment

      Facing the problems of material industrialization and international technology blockade, Gallium Future chose to make self - developed breakthroughs in two key paths: First, the heterogeneous epitaxy technology route. By growing gallium oxide on mature commercial substrates such as silicon carbide, sapphire, and silicon, the material cost is reduced by more than 10 times. Second, self - develop HVPE equipment. While achieving large size, thick film, and high mobility, breakthroughs have been made in key performance indicators such as a wide doping concentration range to achieve stable production of heterogeneous epitaxial wafers.

      "Through this innovation, we not only solved the technical problems but also significantly reduced the cost." The founder of Gallium Future summarized.

II. Focus on High - value Tracks and Promote Product Implementation in Stages

      The application scenarios of gallium oxide devices cover two major fields: power electronics and photoelectric detection. In terms of power electronics, it can cover scenarios such as new energy vehicles (fast - charging piles, OBC, main inverters), photovoltaic inverters, and medium - and high - voltage industrial power supplies from 650V to 3300V. In terms of photoelectric detection, relying on the solar - blind ultraviolet response characteristics, it can be widely used in scenarios such as power grid monitoring, fire warning, and maritime search and rescue.

      Based on market demand, Gallium Future focuses on high - value tracks: On the power device side, it mainly targets scenarios such as on - board chargers for high - voltage platforms above 800V in new energy vehicles, fast - charging piles, and industrial power supplies for AI data centers. On the optoelectronic device side, it focuses on application directions such as solar - blind ultraviolet detection, deep - ultraviolet light sources, and optical communication devices.

      According to the global market forecast of "Wide Gap Power Semiconductor Components" released by the market research company Fuji Keizai in 2019, the market scale of gallium oxide power components will reach 36% of that of silicon carbide in 2030, even exceeding the scale of gallium nitride power components. Indeed, currently, gallium oxide semiconductor materials are in the early stage of moving from the laboratory to industrialization. Innovative projects need to adapt to the R & D system and market introduction strategies.

      Gallium Future adopts a phased promotion strategy: In the initial stage, it will focus on serving universities and scientific research institutions for material research and device development. Subsequently, it will expand in - depth cooperation with device design companies and IDM manufacturers to promote the application of products in the industrial field. The ultimate goal is to enter the mainstream markets such as new energy vehicles, industrial power supplies, and photovoltaics on a large scale as the technology and market mature.

      "To promote the application of gallium oxide devices to larger application scenarios, such as new energy vehicle charging piles and data center power equipment, a longer - term verification of performance and reliability is required." The founder of Gallium Future believes that there is a time lag from the end - user application back to the device production level, then back to the device design level, and finally back to the production of the epitaxial layer. The primary goal of Gallium Future in the early stage is to serve early customers well, consolidate the technical foundation, continuously improve the quality and process level of the epitaxial layer, and gradually establish and stabilize the downstream customer group.

      In terms of production line construction, the first - phase project of Gallium Future was launched in July 2025, and a clean room has been completed in the Jinjiang Integrated Circuit Industrial Park, which is mainly used for the mass production of gallium oxide homo - and heterogeneous epitaxial products to provide production capacity guarantee for subsequent market expansion.