In July, we have announced that our scalable GaN manufacturing on 300-millimeter wafers is on track, with first samples available for customers in the fourth quarter of 2025. This development is expected to bring significant benefits to our customers, including improved device performance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness said Johannes Schoiswohl, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Business Line Head of Power & Sensor Systems (PSS) GaN Systems at Infineon Technologies. In this Volt-Age interview, Hannes talks about Infineon’s milestone innovations in Si advancements and SiC Manufacturing. He also underlines key challenges in GaN manufacturing on 300-millimeter wafers and the company’s model to reach last-mile customers. Edited Excerpts Below.
How Infineon aims to ignite the power industry with GaN technologies while offering higher power densities, smaller form factors, cost competitive?
Infineon is leading the power semiconductor industry with milestone innovations as the latest thin-wafer technology for silicon (Si) and advancements in silicon carbide (SiC) manufacturing in our fab in Kulim.
For gallium nitride (GaN) we have lined up a range of innovations that allow designers to advance towards new frontiers in power-density and efficiency. A good example is our GaN high-voltage (650V) bi-directional switch which is a unique semiconductor device able to maximize power density at lowest system cost.
Infineon’s upcoming medium-voltage (100V) transistor technology with integrated Schottky diode and industry benchmark switching figure-of-merits will completely re-shape markets regarding DC-DC power conversion like in AI Intermediate Buse Converters and SMPS Synchronous Rectification.
On this journey our industry-first 300mm GaN technology will bring us a big step closer towards GaN–Si cost-parity.
Recently, the company officially announced that its scalable GaN manufacturing on 300-millimeter wafers is on track, what this shall mean for the customers and also by when can the samples be expected to reach the customers?
In July, we have announced that our scalable GaN manufacturing on 300-millimeter wafers is on track, with first samples available for customers in the fourth quarter of 2025. This development is expected to bring significant benefits to our customers, including improved device performance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.
The state-of-the-art GaN manufacturing processes we use will enable customers to achieve better performance in their applications, resulting in smaller, lighter, and more efficient products.
This will be particularly beneficial for customers in industrial, automotive, and consumer, computing & communication applications, such as power supplies for AI systems, solar inverters, chargers and adapters, and motor-control systems.
As I already mentioned, one of the key benefits of Infineon’s 300 mm GaN technology is that it will contribute to GaN cost parity with silicon on RDS(on) level, making GaN a more attractive option for customers.
This means that customers will be able to achieve comparable performance to silicon-based products at a similar cost.
As Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM), Infineon’s in-house manufacturing capabilities will provide ultimate supply security for customers. This will ensure that customers have a reliable and consistent source of high-quality GaN products, including improved performance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, as well as supply security and reliability.
What are the key challenges in GaN manufacturing on 300-millimeter wafers, for say, yield, epitaxy and processing, material quality given its distinguished material properties?
Manufacturing on a bigger diameter fits 2.3 times as many chips per wafer as 200 mm technology but it comes with difficulties: A key challenge in GaN manufacturing is to grow a homogenous GaN layer on top of the Si substrate (epitaxy) as the lattice mismatch between GaN and Si creates substantial stress in the material.
The bigger the wafer diameter, the bigger this challenge becomes. For GaN on a 300 mm Si wafer, this stress is as high as four elephants (5 tons each) sitting on a 1 Cent coin.
Infineon has developed key IP in the field of GaN epitaxy at our Center of Competence for GaN EPI where engineers with decades of GaN EPI process development experience developed the 300 mm GaN EPI process.
Which markets across the globe do you think shall promptly be the key adopters of your advance technology like the advance GaN power solutions?
In addition to the already well-established consumer charger market for example, GaN based power semiconductors find fast adoption in industrial, data center, renewables, and automotive applications. Specifically, the demanding power and efficiency requirements of AI data centers drive the adoption of GaN, like 800V DC distribution for example. Furthermore, we see GaN being adopted in renewables like solar micro-inverters. And in the automotive market we have a wide range of customers working on GaN based implementations for on-board chargers and HV DC-DC conversion stages. The higher efficiency, and size reductions, especially at higher switching frequencies, make GaN suited for a wide range of industries.
In a world critical about reliability and supply chain security, how Infineon strategizes to enable customers a seamless experience of emerging technologies like 300-millimeter wafers?
Infineon’s manufacturing strategy primarily relies on an IDM model, whereby we own the entire semiconductor production process, from design to manufacturing and selling the final product. This approach provides several advantages for our customers such as faster time-to-market, design and development flexibility, and bespoke manufacturing processes. As for all materials, Infineon has a diversified, global, and resilient supply chain for GaN which sets us apart from competition.
Does Infineon aim to leverage topology, reference designs to help optimize customers’ application while making the most out of GaN technology?
Infineon supports its customers by providing a wide range of reference designs leveraging the entire Infineon portfolio from GaN power semiconductors, via gate-drivers (Eice Famil) and controllers (eg latest PSOC family) and sensors. We combine all components in state-of-the-art reference solutions fulfilling customer requirements and allowing customers to quickly adopt Infineon GaN products. An example would be our 8kW and 12kW (TBC) reference designs for AI Data Centers that display the entire Infineon portfolio in a compelling System Solution.
Lastly, the importance of APAC market for Infineon while leveraging advanced technologies like wide bandgap?
In general, Infineon regards the APAC market as a strategic market with growth potential in decarbonization and digitalization, specifically in high-value sectors such as electromobility and renewables – and this includes semiconductor solutions based on wide bandgap materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride.
