Made in Villach

Infineon achieves breakthrough in gallium nitride chips

A technician in the clean room at Infineon Technologies in Villach holds a 300-millimeter gallium nitride wafer.

(Bild: Infineon)

Infineon has taken a major step forward in the mass production of ultra-modern power semiconductors made of gallium nitride (GaN). The German company announced on Wednesday that it will be able to produce these chips, which are needed for electric cars among other things, faster and more cheaply.

The market for this will reach a volume of several billion dollars by the end of the decade, said Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck during a telephone conference. His company will take a large slice of this. "We want to shape the market."

Hanebeck explained that Infineon is the first supplier in the world to be able to produce GaN chips on wafers with a diameter of 300 millimeters at its Austrian plant in Villach. Each of these wafers can hold 2.3 times more chips than the previous 200-millimeter technology.

At the same time, the new process also allows GaN semiconductors to be manufactured on systems for the production of conventional silicon chips with minor adjustments. This will accelerate the fall in the price of GaN chips, which previously cost many times more than comparable silicon semiconductors.

Four elephants on one coin
The reason for the higher price is the technical challenges involved in production. "The carrier material silicon and gallium nitride don't like each other. This creates stress at the boundary layer. This stress is as great as if you put four elephants, each weighing five tons, on a one-eurocent coin."

GaN chips can be used to build smaller and lighter chargers, such as for laptops and smartphones or electric cars. They are also used in solar power systems or in the energy management of high-performance computers for artificial intelligence.

Breakthrough in a difficult phase
The GaN breakthrough comes at a difficult time for Infineon. Due to weakening demand from the automotive and green energy sectors, the Group has had to adjust its business targets several times in recent months. It has also cut several thousand jobs. As part of the cost-cutting program announced by the German parent company in May, 380 of a total of 6,000 jobs are also to be cut in Austria over the next two years.