The core technology of mainland PK Japan, US and Germany LED chips is 20 years behind.

The power electronics field is mainly responsible for DC-DC conversion, AC-DC conversion, and motor drive. Need to be lighter, smaller, more efficient and cheaper, there are currently four technologies to meet these requirements, namely silicon IGBT, Super Junction (SJ) MOSFETs, Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC)-based devices.

GaN and SiC are still immature for the power electronics market. The former requires technical improvements in the manufacturing process, especially the epitaxial thickness; the latter, which is currently an expensive material, is not suitable for use in the consumer market.

From the power processing capabilities, power semiconductor discrete devices can be divided into four categories, including low-voltage small-power discrete devices (voltage less than 200V, current less than 200mA), medium-power discrete devices (voltage less than 200V, current less than 5A), High-power discrete devices (voltage less than 500V, current less than 40A), high-voltage extra-power discrete devices (voltage below 2,000V, current less than 40A).

IGBT is a device that RCA and GE proposed in 1982 and began to be serialized and gradually serialized in 1986. It is the third-generation power semiconductor discrete device after bipolar transistor (GTR) and MOSFET, which integrates GTR and MOSFET. The advantages are easy to drive, large peak current capacity, self-shutdown, high switching frequency, widely used in small-volume, high-efficiency variable frequency power supply, motor speed regulation, UPS and inverter welding machine. A fast new generation of power devices.

The downstream application fields of IGBTs are also very broad. From the voltage withstand range of IGBTs, 600V-1200V IGBTs are mainly used in induction cookers, power supplies, inverter household appliances, etc. At this stage, the IGBT usage is the largest in this part of the market; IGBTs below 600V are mainly It is used in digital camera flash and car igniter; IGBT with voltage greater than 1200V is mainly based on 1700V IGBT. This part of the product is mainly used in industrial products such as high voltage inverter.

The most important areas for driving the growth of the IGBT market in the future are inverters, inverter appliances, rail transportation industry, solar and wind energy renewable energy, hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles. The markets outside the car are concentrated in China.

Inverter industry: The inverter adjusts the motor speed and torque in real time, which can save unnecessary energy waste. The energy-saving effect of the motor using the frequency converter is obvious. The general energy saving rate is 20%-30%, and the higher one can exceed 50%, and the energy saving potential is huge. As the frequency converter is widely used in machinery, oil and gas drilling, metallurgy, petrochemical, electric power and municipal, and has a wide range of downstream applications, the market is expected to continue to grow in the future. Among them, we expect high-voltage inverter to maintain 40 in the next three years. The growth rate above %, while the medium and low voltage inverter will maintain a growth rate of more than 20% in the next three years. The rapid growth of the inverter market will ensure the rapid growth of demand for IGBTs, which are the main raw materials for inverters.

At present, the basics in China are only able to package IGBT tubes. I have not seen them in completely independent production. Although CSR said that it has an 8-inch line, it has not been heard that it has been officially put into production.

Not only that, Infineon also purchased metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment from Aixtron to further deposit GaN semiconductor materials on silicon substrates, and successfully entered the field; LG) also uses a similar approach to expand the layout.

In addition, Samsung is also trying to develop silicon-based GaN-based power semiconductors; Sanken also expects to mass-produce GaN components with Panasonic and Furukawa from the end of 2012 to 2013. . Other companies planning to enter GaN include NXP (NXP) semiconductors in the Netherlands and STMicroelectronics (ST), based in Geneva, Switzerland.

In general, the development and testing of a new semiconductor material takes a long time, but with the investment of large manufacturers around the world, it is very likely that commercial GaN products will appear in the next two to three years.

The current unit price of silicon-based GaN epitaxy is quite expensive compared to the estimated price in the market in the future.

Although the industry is optimistic about GaN components to improve power conversion efficiency, but still face many production challenges. The most critical variable at present is how to reduce the cost of mass production, that is, how to improve the existing 6-inch wafer technology or jump directly to 8吋

For example, IR is working hard to better integrate production equipment; STMicroelectronics or NXP is manufactured by purchasing epitaxial Epitaxy and using a complementary complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. crystal. This is the return to the business model and enterprise positioning issues, which will reflect the difference in cost structure, but it is currently difficult to compare.

As with the development of the cost structure, the structure of GaN components will be different due to different ways of technology integration. Both IR and EPC currently adopt reverse engineering methods to plate GaN epitaxial layers of 1 to 1.5 micrometers (μm) thick. On the silicon substrate; as for Epi GaN and Azzurro Semiconductor, which specializes in epitaxial fabrication in Germany, it claims to supply a 5 to 7 micron thick GaN layer. The latter will change the way in which GaN components are produced in one fell swoop, especially if the breakdown voltage is the main requirement.

In addition to the above-mentioned manufacturers, it is usually fabless companies that currently purchase epitaxial GaN power components, such as GaN Systems in Canada, Nitek in South Carolina, USA, and BeMiTec in Berlin, Germany. The commonality of these companies is small, and it can be seen that the prospects for the GaN market are unclear for the crystallizer industry.

IR and EPC are now leading the GaN market, and both have commercial products, but so far, revenue from GaN components is still quite low. As a result, EPC is now trying to engage with Digi-Key, a component wholesaler based in Minnesota, to expand its sales pipeline.

At the same time, silicon-based GaN's light-emitting diode (LED) technology is also gradually exerting influence, which will attract more power components with similar structures. Since the LED field is more familiar with GaN than the power electronics, the verification period is relatively short. Once the silicon-based GaN LED technology matures, it will also drive the development of silicon-based GaN power semiconductors in the power supply field.