【Domestic News】The Global Market Scale of Gallium Oxide Power Devices will Reach 3.3 Billion Yuan in 2030

Characteristics and properties of gallium oxide

  In recent years, gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) , as the third generation power device material beyond counterparts silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) , has attracted more and more attention. Gallium oxide was originally studied as a material used for LED substrate, etc. The band gap (the energy difference between the electrons in the valence band and the electrons in the conduction band) was 5.3 eV. Therefore, it is not only far superior to silicon (1.1eV), which is widely used in semiconductors, but also far superior to SiC (3.3eV) and GaN (3.4eV), and have attracted much attention as wide band gap semiconductors. When the band gap is large, the strength with which dielectric breakdown electric field and saturation drift speed become higher. This may increase the breakdown voltage, reduce the loss, increase the switching speed, and finally reduce the size of device. Theoretically, by using gallium oxide, power devices with lower loss than silicon carbide or gallium nitride can be fabricated, so it is expected to be the next generation of power device materials. In addition, Ga₂O₃ can grow bulk single crystals from solvent. Therefore, compared with SiC grown by sublimation in vapor phase to make wafers and GaN epitaxial grown on silicon sapphire substrate to make wafers, gallium oxide can reduce wafer manufacturing costs in the future. It is a possibility. Due to the above characteristics, Ga₂O₃ power devices have advantages in performance and cost, so research and development are actively being promoted.

Market prediction of gallium oxide power devices

  In June 2020, Fuji Economy, a market research company, predicted in the global power semiconductor survey results released that the market size of Ga₂O₃ power devices would reach 59 billion yen by 2030.

  In the same year, the market scale of GaN power devices is predicted to be 23.2 billion yen, and it is estimated that the market scale of Ga₂O₃ power devices will be about 2.5 times that of GaN.

  It is expected that gallium oxide will be gradually applied to industrial applications such as high breakdown voltage fields. Firstly it will be used as a power source in the consumption and telecommunications fields, and will be fully deployed in the vehicle and electrical equipment fields from 2025 to 2030.

Research and development trend of gallium oxide

  In Japan, Novel Crystal Technology, FLOSFIA and other companies are in a leading position in the research and development of gallium oxide. They are venture enterprises based on the development achievements of researchers, who were led by Tamura Corporation, NICT (National Institute of Information and Communication Technology), Tokyo Agricultural and Industrial University, etc. They developed  β-Ga₂O₃ epitaxial wafer in 2015, and mass production of 2 inches started in 2017. They have successfully developed power transistors using Ga₂O₃ SBD (Schottky barrier diode) and Ga₂O₃ epitaxial films. In addition to the 2-inch extension, they also sells 4-inch β-Ga₂O₃ single crystal substrates. 6 inch substrates is also being developed. In the future, in addition to improving the quality of 4-inch epitaxial chips and starting the mass production line, they plan to start mass production of gallium oxide SBD in 2022, as well as Ga₂O₃ 2-inch epitaxial wafer with schottky electrode made by Novell Crystal Technology.

  In addition to power devices, NICT announced in December 2020 that it had developed high-frequency Ga₂O₃ transistors for wireless communications, whose  maximum oscillation frequency has reached 27GHz. According to the announcement, it is the highest in the world. In wireless communication, the required maximum oscillation frequency is at least 2 to 3 times of the frequency of actual use. The gallium oxide transistor will provide a frequency of 1 to 10 GHz, which is widely used in satellite broadcasting, mobile phones, wireless LAN, etc. Different from power devices, few studies have been done on Ga₂O₃ transistors in wireless communication applications. Since gallium oxide transistor has the characteristics of high temperature resistance, radiation resistance, corrosion resistance, etc., wireless communication equipment can be used even in extreme environments by using the transistor. In the future, in addition to extreme environments, it is expected to be applied to wireless communications in the fields of space and underground resource exploration.