Volume 23 Issue 1 JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 @compoundsemi www.compoundsemiconductor.net Turbo-charging LiFi with semi-polar lasers Removing thermal barriers to GaN HEMTs Trumping incumbents with quantum dot lasers Uniting III-V tunnel FETs with silicon substrates IEDM Niobium nitride enables epitaxial lift-off of GaN Showcasing III-V success inside N ews Review, News Analysis, Features, Research Review, and much more... Free Weekly E News round up go to: www.compoundsemiconductor.net Front Cover CSv2RS.indd 1 30/01/2017 14:40 Untitled-5 1 29/06/2016 15:50 Viewpoint By Dr Richard Stevenson, Editor III-Vs get out and about THE PHRASE “electron devices” strikes me as a little odd. It University claimed a record seems to speak of a bygone era, when key building blocks for on-current for any III-V or electrical engineers included various forms of vacuum tube. silicon MOSFET. Their device Today, what we tend to talk about is the electronic device, sports indium-rich nanowires sometimes prefaced with the term solid-state. with a benefi cial distribution of interface states. Where the phrase “electron devices” does crop up is in the title to the annual IEEE Electron Devices Meeting, often referred to Northrop Grumman are as IEDM. It has been running for well over fi fty years. renowned for their pioneering efforts in InP terahertz I have no idea what technologies dominated the proceedings of technology, and at the latest the early meetings, but in the ten or more years that I’ve been IEDM Bill Deal claimed that following the papers given at IEDM silicon has been dominant. the team had produced the However, its stranglehold is weakening, with increasing content fi rst transistor gain at 1 THz of III-V success. or more. They have set the bar high: a gain of 10 dB is The most recent meeting continued this trend, with reports produced by their ten-stage of advances in GaN and SiC power devices, greater gain in amp. terahertz InP amplifi ers and III-V MOSFETs with record on- currents. Details are given in my round-up on p22: IEDM Breakthroughs in GaN power technology included a novel showcases compound semiconductor successes. GaN rectifi er by MIT that employed fi eld rings to slash leakage currents and boost the blocking voltage; and Panasonic During the last few years, there have been quite a few papers at described development of a gate-injected GaN transistor that IEDM detailing breakthroughs that could lead to improvement slashes switching losses, and the introduction of semi-polar in MOSFET technology through the introduction of III-Vs. These gates in vertical structures that increase the capability of high- higher mobility materials promise to maintain on-currents current, high-voltage switching. while reducing the supply voltage – and ultimately the power consumption per transistor. At the most recent meetings, there These papers at IEDM highlight the talent of researchers within were a relatively small number of papers on this topic – I’m this community. I look forward to informing you of many more not quite sure what to make of that – but a group from Lund advances in that vein through 2017. 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COPYRIGHT COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR l JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 l WWW.COMPOUNDSEMICONDUCTOR.NET 3 ViewPoint v5MG.indd 3 01/02/2017 11:19 Volume 23 ISSUE 1 2017 CONTENTS COVER STORY 22 IEDM showcases compound semiconductor 22 successes III-V devices deliver record on-currents, unprecedented gain at terahertz frequencies and far lower power-switching losses 32 Removing thermal barriers to GaN HEMTs Power densities produced by GaN HEMTs can 44 GaN on anything reach their full potential by integrating these devices with diamond and microfluidic cooling Giving GaN freedom from SiC with NbN 2 38 Uniting III-V tunnel 54 InP lasers: Trumping FETs with silicon the incumbents with Template-assisted selective epitaxy enables quantum dots the construction of ultra-low power III-V TFETs on silicon substrates Very high data rates and tremendous temperature stability make the InP quantum dot laser a very promising contender for tomorrow’s optical networks 60 Turbocharging LiFi with semi-polar lasers A record-breaking bandwidth makes the violet 60 semi-polar laser well suited for visible light communication 4 WWW.COMPOUNDSEMICONDUCTOR.NET l JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 l COPYRIGHT COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR Contents v2.indd 4 01/02/2017 11:20 news news analysis research review 06 16 66 LED price drop is driving away Time to switch? Annealing boosts green laser manufacturers efficiency 18 A faster slice 07 67 Peregrine introduces next Nano-antenna enhance terahertz 20 generation UltraCMOS platform Beyond the horizon sensitivity 08 68 Growing thicker, more boron-rich Smoothing non-polar AlGaN films BAlN 10 Lumileds claims efficiency record with Luxeon MX multi-die emitter 11 Defence and aerospace continue to dominate GaN device market 12 Philips to sell majority share of Lumileds to US firm 06 16 32 COPYRIGHT COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR l JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 l WWW.COMPOUNDSEMICONDUCTOR.NET 5 Contents v2.indd 5 01/02/2017 11:20 s news review LED price drop is driving Aixtron announces new CEO away manufacturers AIXTRON SE has announced that the current CEO of the company, Martin ALTHOUGH residential and commercial Goetzeler, is leaving the company at industries are widely adopting energy- the end of his contract on February efficient LEDs, the drop in LED prices 28, 2017. is driving away manufacturers because of decreased profitability, dramatically Former Aixtron Executive Board dislocating and restructuring the solid- Member and current Supervisory state lighting marketplace, says a new Board Chairman, Kim Schindelhauer, US National Academies of Sciences, will take on Goetzeler’s duties as CEO Engineering, and Medicine report. and CFO on an interim basis starting March 1, 2017, until a successor Since the last Academies report in 2013 warns that the successful proliferation is found. The strategy adopted will that assessed the state of solid-state of such applications would not focus on continue unchanged. lighting, the annual residential installation the reduction of energy consumption of LED bulbs has increased six fold alone, but the US Department of Energy Goetzeler, whose responsibilities between 2012 and 2014, from 13 million (DOE) should think of ways to continue included strategy, finances, and also to 78 million. to improve their efficiency, given their personnel as industrial relations inevitable growth. director, is leaving the company for The report Assessment of Advanced personal reasons and in agreement Solid-State Lighting, Phase 2 also cites The committee recommended with the company’s Supervisory the emergence of new applications for developing strategies for supporting Board. solid-state lighting that have the potential broader research that enables to create new markets and commercial more efficient use of light across all “During Mr. Goetzeler’s tenure, opportunities for the industry, as well applications, with attention to both the Aixtron’s technology portfolio was as add value to aspects related to lighting design process and the design of diversified considerably and the quality of life. For example, product and lighting products. company oriented its strategy toward lighting designers are exploring options the future markets it identified. In that collect and process data from With the possible emergence of new addition, both the focus on profitability the illuminated environment and offer applications for solid state lighting, both as well as the awareness of costs additional features to consumers. consumers and industry need to be more were successfully internalised in the fully educated about the transformative company and the financial results Developing new products with multiple and broader implications of solid state steadily improved,” explained features that offer functions beyond lighting, the report highlights. To achieve Supervisory Board chairman Kim illumination could promise higher this, DOE should partner with industry, Schindelhauer. “ margins for manufacturers, said the states, and utility companies to develop committee that conducted the study and implement a public outreach He strengthened the relationships and wrote the new report. The report program to deploy solid-state lighting. with the Chinese market and consequently initiated the planned China deal.” continued Schindelhauer. “He was greatly dedicated to this Toshiba launches second-generation SiC diodes effort. We thank Mr. Goetzeler for his exemplary service to Aixtron since his TOSHIBA has launched a second generation of 650 V SiC schottky barrier diodes appointment in March 2013 and wish (SBDs). Fabricated with the company’s second-generation SiC process, they deliver him every success in his continued approximately 70 percent better surge forward current than first generation products. career.” At the same time, they reduce the switching loss index of R Q by around Wolfgang Blättchen, current deputy dsON C 30 percent, making them suitable for use in efficient power factor correction (PFC) chairman of the Supervisory Board schemes. will take over as chair during Schindelhauer’s work as CEO of the The new products are available in four current ratings of 4 A, 6 A, 8 A, and 10 A, either company. in a non-isolated TO-220-2L package or an isolated TO-220F-2L package. These products can contribute to improving the efficiency of power supplies in devices including 4K large screen LCD TVs, projectors and multifunction copiers, and in industrial devices such as telecommunication base stations and PC servers, according to Toshiba. 6 WWW.COMPOUNDSEMICONDUCTOR.NET l JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 l COPYRIGHT COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR News CS v3.indd 6 01/02/2017 11:36 s news review Peregrine introduces next-generation UltraCMOS platform RF SOI (silicon on insulator) company OFF state (COFF, or off capacitance). a custom fabrication flow from Peregrine Semiconductor has announced With each new UltraCMOS generation, Globalfoundries. UltraCMOS 11 the UltraCMOS 12 technology platform. Peregrine targets a 20-percent technology, introduced in July 2015, Now in production, this next-generation improvement in R C . UltraCMOS was the industry’s first RF SOI 300 mm ON OFF RF SOI platform is claimed to have the 12 technology surpasses this target and platform, and UltraCMOS 10, introduced industry’s lowest R C performance sets a new industry standard for R C in October 2013, delivered the industry’s ON OFF ON OFF level of 80fs – a 25 percent improvement performance, according to the company. best R C performance, at the time. ON OFF over the last generation. “For nearly three decades, Peregrine’s “Our joint development with Peregrine To develop the 300 mm UltraCMOS UltraCMOS technology platform Semiconductor continues to produce 12 platform, Peregrine collaborated with has been at the forefront of RF SOI remarkable results, and UltraCMOS Globalfoundries, a leading full-service performance – especially for RF 12 technology is the latest success semiconductor foundry. switching,” says Alain Duvallet, vice story,” said Raj Nair, vice president president of RF process technology at of technology development at A key metric for RF switching, R C is Peregrine Semiconductor. “This legacy Globalfoundries. ON OFF Peregrine’s performance benchmark for continues with today’s introduction of each new generation of the UltraCMOS the UltraCMOS 12 platform, which boasts “This new RF SOI technology reaffirms platform. R C is a ratio of how much the industry’s best R C performance. our commitment to the RF market ON OFF ON OFF loss occurs when a radio signal goes And this technology breakthrough is on and is another example of how through a switch in its ON state (RON, or a 300 mm RF SOI wafer!” UltraCMOS Globalfoundries can provide industry- on-resistance) and how much the radio 12 technology, like the two generations leading levels of performance, reliability signal leaks through the capacitor in its prior – UltraCMOS 10 and 11, uses and scalability. Start-up aims to shake up compound semi market CARBONICS, a venture-backed Los “Carbonics has achieved a unique Angeles start-up, has launched its zebra milestone in the evolution of carbon single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT)-on- electronics,” said Ken Hansen, president silicon technology. and CEO of Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). “This is a crucial Aimed at RF applications, the technology first step from Carbonics toward high is said to be 30 times more linear than performance, next-generation RF GaAs; 1000 times better in power than electronics using next-generation GaAs; 100 percent CMOS compatible; nanotechnology for high performance and able to cut component cost by mmWave RF and CMOS compatibility. 50 percent. It’s exciting to see the progress from Carbonics also plans to launch its With the launch of its zebra wafers, the fundamental material and device viper product line made up of high Carbonics says it wants to give design research sponsored by SRC and performance RF devices and integrated engineers, foundries, and device DARPA develop into the launch of a amplifiers in 2017 and its stingray manufacturers access to the best and groundbreaking product technology.” product line of RFICs and MMICs that most advanced semiconducting platform The zebra wafer product line includes the will include high performance mmWave for designing next-generation high speed zebra bolt with aligned semiconducting LNA, PAs, mixers, switches and front-end circuits. CNT on 15 nm SiO for backgated modules (FEMs) in 2018. 2 device applications such as sensors and “Carbonics intends to shake up the detectors; the zebra dash with aligned Carbonics was spun-out from UCLA and billion-dollar compound semiconductor semiconducting CNT on 1500 nm for top- USC and funded by university-sponsored market with our superior disruptive gated devices such as memory, switch, research from the Centre of Excellence carbon technology that is fully CMOS logic and RF applications covering for Green Nanotechnologies at UCLA compatible and able to perform in the L-Band to mmWave and 3G, 4G, 4G, and King Abdulaziz City for Science mmWave spectrum – representing WiFi, 802.11ad and WiGig spectrums; and Technology Center (KACST), SRC, perfect timing for the 5G and Internet of and the zebra sprint with aligned DARPA, US Air Force and UCLA’s Things (IoT) revolution,” said Carbonics semiconducting CNT on quartz aimed California NanoSystems Institute CEO Kos Galatsis. for RF applications up to 100 GHz. Technology Incubator. COPYRIGHT COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR l JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 l WWW.COMPOUNDSEMICONDUCTOR.NET 7 News CS v3.indd 7 01/02/2017 11:36 s news review Growing thicker, more boron-rich BAlN WITH A COMPARABLE bandgap to 12 percent and 17 percent. This indicates aluminium-rich AlGaN, BAlN is a very that the boron atoms in the precursors promising alternative for making deep UV were incorporated into the thin fi lms as optical devices. One of its great attributes effi ciently as the aluminium atoms. The is a smaller lattice constant that can be growth effi ciency, on the other hand, was used to tune the strain and thus enable determined to be 2,000 μm/mol, implying optical polarization engineering. that 31 percent of the injected group-III precursors formed the thin fi lms. This The addition of boron also reduces the growth effi ciency is similar to the ones refractive index, making it possible to of recent reports of effi cient AlN growth, fabricate BAlN/AlGaN distributed Bragg showing the suppression of parasitic refl ectors with refl ectivity close to unity. Scrutinising the fi lms with transmission reactions. electron microscopy confi rmed the Up until now, utilisation of BAlN has been wurtzite crystal structure. However, Despite the progress, the team believes held back by the low boron content of the determining the material composition for that more effort is needed to improve the wurtzite BAlN and its thickness: boron BAlN is not trivial. X-ray diffraction can BAlN material quality. One interesting content has been limited to no more than produce large errors, due to the lack of phenomenon described in previous 10 percent by MOCVD, and thickness lattice references of BAlN and existence reports, and observed by the team, is has been restricted to 10 nm or less. of strain and defects. that a decreased growth temperature facilitates the formation of wurtzite According to reports, the root causes To address this concern, the researchers BAlN. However, a lower temperature is for these drawbacks include premature utilized Rutherford backscattering undesirable for the AlN phase, which reaction, phase separation, and short spectrometry (RBS) which is a reliable is dominant in the BAlN alloys with diffusion length of boron atoms. The and accurate method for the composition relative low boron compositions. This is growth effi ciency is also compromised as of common thin fi lms. However, the RBS apparently counterintuitive as a shorter a result the premature reaction. signal of boron atoms was weak, due to covalent bond tends to result in the need the small nucleus. Large errors result, so for higher growth temperature for the Recently, however, there has been a to ensure a reliable fi gure, composition ‘conventional’ III-nitride binary alloys, breakthrough by a team from Georgia of aluminium was determined fi rst from including InN, GaN, and AlN. Tech, Arizona State and KAUST, that is the RBS measurement, and that of boron led by Xiaohang Li, Fernando Ponce, deduced by simple subtraction, since This collaborative work, which received Russell Dupuis. By optimising growth BAlN is ternary. fi nancial support from the U.S. National conditions, in terms of V/III ratio and Science Foundation, Georgia Research temperature, and turning to a pulse Another remarkable result of the study is Alliance, and KAUST, is detailed in growth mode, these researchers were the high boron incorporation effi ciency the paper: 100-nm thick single-phase able to produce a 100-nm thick single- and growth effi ciency. In this study, the wurtzite BAlN fi lms with boron contents phase wurtzite BAlN thin fi lms with B/III ratios leading to boron compositions over 10 percent, from Physica Status boron compositions up to 14.4 percent. of 11 percent and 14.4 percent were Solidi B, 1600699 (2017). Advanced Compound Semiconductor VCSELS Foundry Services THERMOPHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS MOCVD • Fabrication • Testing SOLAR CELLS Advanced III-V semiconductor solutions for optoelectronics PHOTODETECTORS application in the biotechnology, telecommunications, LEDS energy, industrial, and defense industries. LASER POWER CONVERTERS MasimoSemiconductor.com | 603-595-8900 semiconductor FT_337A, Ad, Compound Semiconductor Publication, Masimo Semiconductor, 189x79mm, v3.indd 1 5/10/16 4:42 PM 8 WWW.COMPOUNDSEMICONDUCTOR.NET l JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 l COPYRIGHT COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR News CS v3.indd 8 01/02/2017 11:36 your! EPITAXIAL GROWTH! partner ! Enabling advanced technologies World leading technology Complete materials range MOCVD, MBE, CVD Advanced semiconductor wafer products Advanced R&D capabilities Multiple, manufacturing sites (Europe, Asia, USA) www.iqep.com Untitled-1 1 08/03/2016 10:23 Untitled-1 1 02/07/2014 11:05 s news review Lumileds claims efficiency record with Luxeon MX multi-die emitter LUMILEDS has introduced the Luxeon on their LED street lighting projects, MX, a multi-die emitter that is claimed to while also realising the fast return on deliver industry leading efficiency and investment from using the most efficient flux for outdoor fixtures and high bay emitters,” said Danielson. lighting applications. Furthermore, the Luxeon MX uses a Lighting fixtures benefit from the emitter’s new, robust package that increases the 1,200 lumen, 150 lm/W efficacy, at 85°C projected lumen maintenance compared which enables a system efficiency of to the Luxeon M. The Luxeon MX is 120 lm/W when driven at 700mA. “This is an instant upgrade to the Luxeon M, double the flux of comparable emitters in featuring identical footprint and optical 120 lm/W systems. We’ve achieved this and lifetime. The Luxeon MX makes it characteristics. performance leap by optimising the possible for luminaire makers to meet the LED for improved efficiency at higher efficiency and quality requirements of the The Luxeon MX multi-die emitter will be drive currents up to 1.5 A with the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) Premium offered in a range of colour temperatures 12 V device,” explained Seth Danielson, V4.1 at 700 mA 85°C. (3000K to 6500K) and CRIs (70, 80 product manager for the Luxeon MX. and 90) in convenient 3 V, 6 V and “By creating products eligible for the 12 V configurations. Applications include With these developments, Lumileds DLC Qualified Products List, cities roadway lighting, street lighting, stadium says it has maximised emitter efficiency and municipalities can receive rebates lighting and high bay fixtures. VisIC raises over $11 million for GaN commercialisation VisIC TECHNOLOGIES, an Israel-based inverters, UPS, power supplies for cloud/ GaN based products. It is an important start-up focused on high voltage GaN datacentres and electric motor drives, milestone for our company. power semiconductors, has closed has been marketed and anticipated for $11.6 million in a Series C financing led years, especially for high voltage and Having achieved the best performance by a new investor Birch Investment with high current switching applications. metrics for any GaN devices in the participation of existing investors. market, this new capital infusion positions “We are very excited by the level of us to accelerate commercialisation and The potential of GaN-based electronics support provided by VisIC’s new and dominate the market segment,” said for electrical power delivery systems, existing investors, who share our vision Tamara Baksht, VisIC Technologies’ from consumer power supplies to solar for the extraordinary potential of VisIC’s founder and CEO. VCSEL market worth $2.4 billion by 2021 ACCORDING to a new report by Zion Research, the global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, VCSEL market accounted for around $760 million in 2015 and 2015 – 2021. Data communication has been the leading is expected to reach $2.4 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of application segment with over 57 percent of share in 2015. It around 21.3 percent between 2016 and 2021. is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period mainly because of the construction of new datacentres. The VCSEL has gained a reputation as a superior technology Sensing applications are expected to exhibit high growth in for short reach applications such as infrared illumination, China. Automotive applications are expected to grow at the fibre channel and intra-systems links, due to the VCSEL’s low highest CAGR of 25.11 percent during the forecast period. manufacturing costs and high reliability. North America was the largest market for VCSEL in 2015 and Advancement in automotive electronics, growing numbers of is expected to continue its dominance throughout the forecast datacentres and increasing demand from gesture recognition period. Europe is expected to show high growth driven by the and 3D imaging are some of the major driving factors expected rising use of VCSEL in consumer electronics. Asia Pacific is to propel the growth of VCSELs, according to the report VCSEL considered to be the fastest growing market for VCSEL, due to Market by Application for Data Centers, Consumer Electronics, the surge in datacentres paired with significant growth of the Automotive, Industrial, Healthcare and Others End Users: Global automotive sector in China and India. 10 WWW.COMPOUNDSEMICONDUCTOR.NET l JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 l COPYRIGHT COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR News CS v3.indd 10 01/02/2017 11:37
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