Soitec, Sumitomo team up to develop engineered GaN substrates

Soitec, Sumitomo team up to develop engineered GaN substrates

Soitec (www.soitec.com), a leading supplier of engineered substrates, and Sumitomo Electric Industries (http://global-sei.com), a provider of compound semiconductor materials, have teamed up to develop engineered gallium nitride (GaN) substrates. This collaboration promises lower-cost GaN substrates that would be used in applications including high-brightness LEDs, as well as electric power devices designed for hybrid and full electric vehicles.

The partnership will draw on Sumitomo Electric’s unique GaN wafer manufacturing technology and Soitec’s Smart Cut layer transfer technology by which ultrathin GaN layers are transferred from a single GaN wafer to produce multiple, engineered GaN substrates. The engineered substrates retain the original, high crystalline quality of Sumitomo Electric’s GaN wafer at a lower cost.

“We believe device manufacturers focused on low unit area costs will find value in the greater functionality of these engineered substrates,” said Masamichi Yokogawa, Sumitomo Electric’s executive officer and general manager of the Compound Semiconductor Material Division.

“This collaboration represents the first step of an important move in our strategy to address the need for dramatically improved efficiency in power conversion and lighting with innovative materials engineering solutions,” said André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, CEO of Soitec.

For more information, contact Soitec’s Camille Darnaud-Dufour at 33 (0)6 79 49 51 43 or e-mail camille.darnaud-dufour@soitec.fr or Sumitomo Electric’s Public Relations Department at 81 6 6220 4119 (Osaka), +81 3 6722 3103 (Tokyo), or e-mail web@info.sei.co.jp

Christina Nickolas