Largest gallium wafer at lowest cost? How China leads on next-gen semiconductor tech

A breakthrough in next-generation semiconductor technology has been announced by Chinese researchers, with the creation of the world’s largest N-polar gallium nitride (GaN) wafer, at eight inches (20.3cm).

In what is seen as a game changer for the semiconductor industry, the wafer could slash production costs by 40 per cent – thereby speeding up global adoption of the technology in satellite communications and electric vehicles (EVs).

GaN has been hailed as a flagship third-generation compound semiconductor. It is revolutionising high-frequency, high-power applications including 5G/6G networks, satellite communications, autonomous vehicles and radar systems, due to its exceptional physical properties.

At the heart of GaN’s potential lies its crystal polarity. While both nitrogen-polar (N-polar) and gallium-polar (Ga-polar) GaN exist, N-polar variants demonstrate superior performance. However, strict growth requirements and complex processes have limited global production to small batches of two- to four-inch N-polar GaN wafers at prohibitive costs – until now.

On March 22, the JFS Laboratory research team in Wuhan, Hubei province, announced the world’s first successful fabrication of 8-inch N-polar GaN-on-insulator (GaNOI) wafers on silicon substrate. This innovation shatters foreign technological monopolies, reducing wafer costs by 40 per cent while increasing the device breakdown voltage to 2000V.