Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWSIn the EU-funded project "ALL2GaN", 45 partners from twelve European countries are working together on easily integrable, energy-saving semiconductors made of gallium nitride (GaN) The aim is to fully exploit the energy-saving potential of highly efficient power semiconductors made of gallium nitride (GaN), and thus to reduce CO2-emissions by up to 30%. The novel GaN power semiconductors will be modular and easily embedded in many applications through an integration toolbox. The research extends from individual chip elements, high-performance GaN modules, to chip designs and novel system-on-chip approaches.
Telecommunications, data centers, server farms, e-mobility, renewable energy, and high-efficiency smart grid solutions are areas where high electrical currents and voltages need to be regulated efficiently. Semiconductors made of gallium nitride, which enable higher switching frequencies and power densities, are more energy efficient and thus reduce CO2 emissions.
Based on the "UltimateGaN" project, in which 26 partners from nine European countries have developed compact, cost- and energy-efficient devices based on gallium nitride, the next step is to be able to integrate GaN semiconductors more quickly into different applications and thus further increase energy efficiency.
To this end, 44 other European partners from industry and academia have joined forces with Fraunhofer IMWS in the "ALL2GaN" project - Affordable smart GaN IC solutions for greener applications - to develop novel, modular GaN semiconductors that can be easily embedded in a wide range of applications using an integration kit. The goal is to achieve significantly higher performance and reliability of GaN power and RF technologies along the entire value chain from wafer substrates, through GaN devices, to the system level.
Fraunhofer IMWS contributes its long-standing expertise in material characterization and defect diagnostics to the project and develops improved analytical methods for process characterization and physical defect analysis. As in the previous project "Ultimate GaN", high-resolution analytical techniques and innovative defect diagnostic methods will be used to identify process-related defects and investigate the associated failure modes and degradation mechanisms. "By investigating critical defects or GaN-specific degradation processes, we help to optimize manufacturing processes and ensure the reliability of GaN devices ", says Frank Altmann, head of the business unit "Materials and Devices for Electronics" at Fraunhofer IMWS.
The "ALL2GaN" project will run for a period of three years. The project volume of 60 million euros is financed by investments from industry, grants from the individual countries involved, and the EU research program “European Key Digital Technologies”. Infineon Technologies Austria AG is responsible for the project management.