"From the perspective of some mobile phones released this year, fast charging has gradually become a sign or" standard configuration "of smart phones, such as 65W gallium nitride fast charging head and fast charging charger launched by oppo, and 40W wired charging of Xiaomi 9 pro
Wired fast charging power ranking, source: fuel Finance
But the previous charging heads have faced a pain point: the greater the power, the bigger the head.
To understand the problem of large size of mobile phones, we must first understand the power characteristics of materials. The power conversion of components per unit volume is quantitative. Generally speaking, the larger the power, the larger the volume of power components. If the charging head is designed to be the size of brick just to pursue the fast charging function, the value of the design will be greatly reduced. It is not as convenient as the charging treasure. Another method is to find materials with high power and high conversion efficiency. The third generation semiconductor materials represented by Gan (gallium nitride) began to enter the public's field of vision.
"Gan", Chinese name "gallium nitride", is a new semiconductor material. It has the characteristics of large band gap, high thermal conductivity, high temperature resistance, radiation resistance, acid and alkali resistance, high strength and high hardness. In the early stage, it was widely used in new energy vehicles, rail transit, smart grid, semi conductor lighting, new generation mobile communication, etc.
With the technology breakthrough and cost control, gallium nitride is also widely used in consumer electronics and other fields, including charger. Due to the high technical threshold of gallium nitride, there are still few enterprises entering the gallium nitride charging field, mainly including Anker, uibi, grapefruit ratio, ape, purple rice, aukey, etc.
1. Where does Gan come from?
Gallium nitride is a compound semiconductor material composed of nitrogen and gallium. Gallium nitride (GAN), silicon carbide (SIC), aluminum nitride (AlN), gallium oxide (Ga2O3), etc. are collectively referred to as wide band gap semiconductor materials because the band gap width is greater than 2.2ev, and are also referred to as the third generation semiconductor materials in China.
In the semiconductor industry, the material end is divided into:
The first generation of elemental semiconductor materials, such as silicon (SI) and germanium ( Ge)；
Second generation compound semiconductor materials: such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (INP), etc;
The third generation of wide band gap materials, such as silicon carbide (SIC), gallium nitride (GAN), aluminum nitride (AlN), gallium oxide (Ga2O3), etc.
Based on the characteristics of large band gap, high breakdown electric field, large thermal conductivity, high electron saturation drift speed and small dielectric constant, the main application fields are semiconductor lighting, power electronics, RF microwave devices, lasers and detectors.
With the decrease of cost, Gan is expected to replace silicon-based power devices such as diodes, IGBTs and MOSFETs in low and medium power fields. In terms of voltage, 0-300V is the advantage of Si material, above 600V is the advantage of SiC, and between 300v-600v is the advantage of GaN material. According to yole statistics, Gan devices can be applied to 68% of the power device market.
In the application field, the semiconductor lighting industry has developed most rapidly, and has formed an industrial scale of 10 billion US dollars. The material systems used in semiconductor lighting are mainly divided into three types: sapphire based Gan, SiC Based Gan and Si based Gan. The products of each material system correspond to different applications. Among them, sapphire based Gan is the most commonly used and mature material system. Most LED lighting is manufactured through this material system.
In the field of power electronics, the application of wide band gap semiconductors has just started, and the market scale is only hundreds of millions of dollars. Due to the high electron drift saturation speed and strong breakdown field of Gan materials, silicon-based Gan power devices have the characteristics of high reverse turn-off voltage, higher working frequency and lower on resistance, which can make the power supply smaller, more efficient and higher power density. Power devices are the most widely used semiconductors in the field of energy conservation. The vast majority of electronic products will use one or more power devices. The data show that the wide band gap semiconductor chip can eliminate 90% of the energy loss of the rectifier during AC / DC conversion, and reduce the volume of the notebook power adapter by 80%.
It has a very good prospect in switching power supply, electric vehicle, photovoltaic power generation, UPS, data center, wireless charging, chip processor and other applications.
In the field of RF and microwave, the melting point of Gan is 1700 ℃, the frequency can reach 25g and the power can reach 1800W. It has great advantages in aerospace, microwave radar, satellite communication and 5g communication. There are more than 30 enterprises engaged in the research and development of gallium nitride semiconductors in the world, of which only about 10 enterprises have achieved commercial mass production.
In terms of lasers, GaN based lasers can cover a wide spectrum range and realize the manufacture of blue, green and ultraviolet lasers and ultraviolet detection. Purple laser can be used to manufacture high-capacity optical disc, and its data storage disk space is 20 times higher than that of Blu ray disc. In addition, purple laser can also be used in medical disinfection, fluorescent excitation light source and other applications, with a total market capacity of 1.2 billion US dollars; Blue laser can realize full true color display together with existing red laser and frequency doubling fully solidified green laser, so that laser TV can be widely used; GaN based UV detector can be used in missile early warning, satellite secret communication, various environmental monitoring, chemical and biological detection and other fields, but it has not been industrialized.
In terms of detectors, GaN based UV detectors can be used in missile early warning, satellite secret communication, various environmental monitoring, chemical and biological detection and other fields, but they have not been industrialized.
2. Gan development overview: foreign first mover advantage and unlimited domestic potential
Each link of Gan device industry chain is as follows: GaN single crystal substrate (or SiC, sapphire, SI) → GaN material epitaxy → device design → device manufacturing. At present, the industry is dominated by IDM enterprises, but the division of labor in design and manufacturing has begun to appear. For example, TSMC, a traditional silicon wafer foundry, has begun to provide Gan process OEM services, and domestic San'an integration also has mature Gan process OEM services（ Summary of domestic Gan enterprises (available at the end of the text)
Globally, the top four countries in China are China, Japan, Chinese mainland, the United States, South Korea and Taiwan, China, which accounts for 23% of the world's patents. Although China has certain advantages in patents, the current technological development is still dominated by European, American and Japanese enterprises. This is related to the Gan layout sooner or later. The United States and Europe launched the gallium nitride power semiconductor promotion program in 2002 and 2007 respectively, and the Gan research in China began in 2013.
Gan substrates are mainly dominated by Japanese companies, and the market share of Sumitomo electrician in Japan has reached more than 90%. China has produced 2-inch substrates in small quantities, has 4-inch substrate production capacity, and developed 6-inch substrate samples. Domestic enterprises that can provide relevant products include Navitas technology and medium gallium semiconductor.
Gan epitaxial wafer related enterprises mainly include epigan in Belgium, Iqe in the UK and ntt-at in Japan. Chinese manufacturers include Suzhou JingZhan, Suzhou Nenghua and Shiji Jingguang. Suzhou JingZhan has developed 8-inch silicon-based epitaxial wafers in 2014 and can be mass produced at this stage. In December 2018, the shaped energy crystal source successfully developed 8-inch silicon-based gallium nitride (GaN on Si) epitaxial wafers.
In terms of Gan device design manufacturers, there are EPC, MACOM, transphom and Navitas in the United States, dialog in Germany, ampleon acquired by Chinese capital in China, etc.
Among the global independent design and production suppliers (IDM) of Gan RF devices, Sumitomo electrician and Cree are the leading enterprises in the industry, with a market share of more than 30%, followed by qorvo and MACOM. Sumitomo electrician has a large market share in the wireless communication field. It has become the core supplier of Huawei and the largest supplier of Huawei Gan RF devices. In addition, there are exagan in France, NXP in the Netherlands, Infineon in Germany, Mitsubishi Electric in Japan, II - VI in the United States, etc.
List of representative enterprises in gallium nitride (GAN) industry chain at home and abroad
Source: material depth
Although China's gallium nitride development started late, it has been continuously supported in terms of policy:
The "863 Plan" in 2013 clearly listed the third generation semiconductor materials and their applications as important contents.
In May 2015, the State Council issued made in China 2025, in which the third generation semiconductor power devices represented by silicon carbide and gallium nitride were mentioned four times.
In 2015 and 2016, the national science and technology major special project 02 also approved the development and application of the third generation semiconductor power devices.
In 2017, Beijing, Jiangsu, Shandong and Guangdong successively issued 62 relevant policies to promote the development of compound semiconductors. China has formed a gathering area for the development of the third generation semiconductor industry: Beijing Tianjin Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Fujian Delta. Local governments have issued 30 policies involving the provisions of the third generation semiconductor in the "13th five year plan", "key R & D plan" and "scientific and technological innovation plan". At the same time, we found that since this year, both local third-generation semiconductor industry layout and seminars with the theme of third-generation semiconductor are also increasing.
Policy support for the development of emerging high-tech industries has played a positive role in promoting the adjustment of local economic structure and industrial transformation and upgrading. So far, four 4 / 6-inch SiC production / pilot lines and three Gan production / pilot lines have been put into use in China, and several R & D pilot platforms related to the third generation semiconductor are under construction（ Summary of domestic Gan enterprises (available at the end of the text)
3. Gan has broad prospects
Due to the superiority, practicability and strategy of the third generation semiconductor materials and various devices made of them, there is no doubt that semiconductor power devices made of the third generation semiconductor materials SiC and Gan will become the mainstream of development in the future. At present, many developed countries have included the third generation semiconductor materials in the national plan and deployed them in an all-round way.
According to yole's prediction, by the end of 2020, the market scale of Gan RF devices will expand to 2.5 times of the current market. From 2019 to 2020, the implementation of 5g network will take over and promote the growth of Gan market. The Gan market is expected to exceed US $3 billion in the next 10 years.
From the perspective of R & D, Chinese patents account for 23% of the world, but the degree of industrialization is lower than that in Europe and America, but China has a wide range of application scenarios: China is the world's largest producer of semiconductor lighting industry, the world's largest 5g mobile communication, the world's fastest-growing new energy vehicles, smart phones and military industry, The development of these applications is inseparable from the support of the third generation semiconductor materials and devices.
At the same time, domestic investment in Gan is rising. According to the statistics of the third generation semiconductor industry technology innovation strategic alliance, in 2017 alone, the amount of projects related to gallium nitride materials put into operation has exceeded 1.9 billion yuan. With policy support, application promotion and capital pursuit, the third generation semiconductor industry represented by Gan has broad prospects, and the gallium nitride mobile phone fast charging charger is only the beginning.
Domestic Gan enterprises are summarized as follows:
GaN substrate enterprise
Dongguan Zhongjia Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd
Dongguan zhongga Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd., founded in January 2009, is headquartered in Dongguan, Guangdong, with a total registered capital of 130 million yuan. The headquarters has a plant and office area of more than 17000 square meters, and has a large R & D center in Beijing. It is an enterprise specializing in the production of gallium nitride substrate materials in China.
The official website shows that China gallium semiconductor has built the first professional gallium nitride substrate material production line in China, prepared a self-supporting GaN substrate with a thickness of 1100 microns, and can produce stably. In February 2018, China gallium semiconductor realized the trial mass production of 4-inch Gan self-supporting substrate.
Dongguan Zhongjing Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd
Established in 2010, Dongguan Zhongjing Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. is the third key industrialization project of Guangdong Everbright enterprise group in the semiconductor field after China gallium semiconductor and China figure semiconductor.
Based on the manufacturing technology of precision semiconductor equipment such as HVPE equipment and GaN substrate, Zhongjing semiconductor focuses on the development of mini / micro led epitaxy and chip technology, and extends to the direction of new display modules; At the same time, based on GaN substrate material technology, Zhongjing semiconductor will incubate international cutting-edge technologies such as VCSEL, power electronic devices, compound semiconductor RF devices, lamp packaging modules and laser packaging modules, and carry out global industrial layout.
Suzhou Navitas Technology Co., Ltd
Suzhou Navitas Technology Co., Ltd., founded in 2007, is committed to the R & D and industrialization of gallium nitride single crystal substrate, realizing the production of 2-inch gallium nitride single crystal substrate, completing the engineering technology development of 4-inch products and breaking through the key technology of 6-inch. Now it is one of the few units in the world that can provide 2-inch gallium nitride single crystal products in batches.
According to the official website, at present, Navitas GaN single crystal substrate products have been provided to more than 300 customers, and are improving production capacity and developing into the enterprise application market. The key breakthrough direction is in major fields such as blue-green semiconductor lasers, high-power power electronic devices, high reliability and high-power microwave devices.
Garter semiconductor technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd
Established in April 2015, garter semiconductor technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the growth of large-size, high-quality and low-cost gallium nitride substrates, so as to promote many semiconductor enterprises to purchase and use gallium nitride substrates at a reasonable price. Gallium semiconductor has independently developed HVPE equipment to grow high-quality gallium nitride substrates.
The official website shows that with the help of self-developed HVPE equipment, gallium semiconductor has successfully grown a 4-inch self-supporting gallium nitride substrate. Gallium semiconductor said that in the next few years, it will build the world's largest gallium nitride substrate growth base, so as to further promote the wide application of gallium nitride substrate in the semiconductor material market, and will rely on self-supporting GaN substrate for the R & D and manufacturing of middle and downstream high-end LED, power electronics and other devices.
Gan epitaxial wafer enterprise
Suzhou JingZhan Semiconductor Co., Ltd
Suzhou JingZhan Semiconductor Co., Ltd., established in March 2012, is committed to the R & D and industrialization of gallium nitride (GAN) epitaxial materials. In August 2013, JingZhan semiconductor began to build a GaN epitaxial material production line in Suzhou nano City, with an annual output of 20000 150 mm Gan epitaxial wafers; At the end of 2014, JingZhan semiconductor released its commercialized 8-inch silicon-based gallium nitride epitaxial wafer products.
According to the official website, up to now, JingZhan semiconductor has completed round B financing to expand the production scale, and its monthly production capacity of 150mm Gan on Si epitaxial wafers has reached 10000. JingZhan semiconductors has more than 150 famous semiconductor companies, research institutes and customers all over the world.
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