Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation announced that its industry-leading 8-inch 0.35 µm 650 V GaN-on-QST processing technology platform has completed customer-end verification of system and reliability for its first batch of products, and officially entered the mass production phase. VIS becomes the first specialty IC foundry service provider to mass-produce GaN-on-QST wafers.
In 2018, VIS adopted Qromis’ substrate technology (QSTTM) for a processing development of 0.35 µm 650 V GaN-on-QST on 8-inch substrates. The processing technology was completed in Q1 and successfully entered the mass production phase in Q4, 2022. VIS has simultaneously launched several collaborations with domestic and overseas integrated design manufacturing (IDM) vendors and IC design companies.
Compared to silicon (Si) substrates, QST substrates possess a thermal coefficient of expansion (CTE) that is matched to GaN epi-layers, and the wafer warpage is less problematic in the manufacturing process, which is beneficial for mass production. VIS’ 0.35 µm 650 V GaN-on-QST processing technology is compatible with and is complementary to the development and production of the company’s existing 8-inch silicon wafer equipment, achieving the most optimal production efficiency and product yield performance. Based on the results of system verification at the customer end, products addressing the fast-charging market for greater than 65 W has achieved world-leading performance using GaN wafers provided by VIS. Moreover, with the superior thermal property of QST substrates, the GaN wafers produced by VIS achieve better overall heat dissipation performance for fast-charging solutions.
“As a leading specialty IC foundry service provider, VIS has continually improved manufacturing technology to offer customers effective solutions and high value-added services,” said Dr. John Wei, Chief Operating Officer of VIS. “Our 0.35 µm 650 V GaN-on-QST process has an advantage in performances and reliability to not only offer customers a more optimized IC design option but also enhance the competitiveness of customers’ products.”
In addition to the option of 650 V components, VIS’ 0.35 µm GaN-on-QST processing technology also offers customers with add-on and robust ESD as a flexible design option. Not only does the VIS GaN technology platform offer greater device reliability, but VIS has also launched cooperation with multiple customers for the development of scalable device technologies for higher voltage applications (greater than 1 kV) to satisfy their product needs.
