GaNonCMOS

GaN densely integrated with Si-CMOS for reliable, cost-effective power delivery systems

Objective

Power electronics is the key technology to control the flow of electrical energy between source and load for a wide variety of applications from the GWs in energy transmission lines, the MWs in datacenters that power the internet to the mWs in mobile phones. Wide band gap semiconductors such as GaN use their capability to operate at higher voltages, temperatures, and switching frequencies with greater efficiencies. The GaNonCMOS project aims to bring GaN power electronic materials, devices and systems to the next level of maturity by providing the most densely integrated materials to date. This development will drive a new generation of densely integrated power electronics and pave the way toward low cost, highly reliable systems for energy intensive applications. This will be realized by integrating GaN power switches with CMOS drivers densely together using different integration schemes from the package level up to the chip level including wafer bonding between GaN on Si(111) and CMOS on Si (100) wafers.

IHP's Contribution

IHP contributes to all three approaches: package-, stack- and chip-level integration. For the package- and stack level integration, the standard BiCMOS technology will be used whereas for the chip-level integration, the optimization of different BiCMOS process steps will be mandatory to allow for the high integration level based on wafer bonding. IHP will fabricate the driver and control circuit chips for the high frequency d-mode and e-mode GaN switches for frequencies up to 300 MHz. After characterizing these building block circuits the whole control chip will be designed and diced chips will be delivered to the partners for the system assembly. For the second stage of demonstrators a re-design of the CMOS chip might be necessary to ensure full functionality according the specifications.

Funding

This project receives funding from the European Commission.

Project Partners

  • KU Leuven
  • IBM Zürich
  • Epi-GaN
  • IAF
  • Tyndall National Institute
  • Recom
  • AT&S
  • X-FAB
  • NXP
  • PNO

External Links

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