Texas Instruments (TI) announced it has begun production of gallium nitride (GaN)-based power semiconductors at its factory in Aizu, Japan. Coupled with its existing GaN manufacturing in Dallas, Texas, TI will now internally manufacture four times more GaN-based power semiconductors, as Aizu ramps to production.
An alternative to silicon, GaN is a semiconductor material that offers benefits in energy-efficiency, switching speed, power solution size and weight, overall system cost, and performance under high temperatures and high-voltage conditions. GaN chips provide more power density, or power in smaller spaces, enabling applications such as power adapters for laptops and mobile phones, or smaller, more energy-efficient motors for heating and air conditioning systems and home appliances.
TI offers a wide portfolio of integrated GaN-based power semiconductors, ranging from low- to high-voltage, to enable the most energy-efficient, reliable and power-dense electronics.
Further, with the company’s proprietary GaN-on-silicon process, more than 80 million hours of reliability testing, and integrated protection features, TI GaN chips are designed to keep high-voltage systems safe.
Using the most advanced equipment available for GaN chip manufacturing today, TI’s new capacity enables increased product performance and manufacturing process efficiency, as well as a cost advantage.
Also, the more advanced, efficient tools used in TI’s expanded GaN manufacturing can produce smaller chips, packing even more power. This design innovation can be manufactured using less water, energy and raw materials, and end products that use GaN chips enjoy these same environmental benefits.
The performance benefits of TI’s added GaN manufacturing also enable the company to scale its GaN chips to higher voltages, starting with 900V and increasing to higher voltages over time, furthering power-efficiency and size innovations for applications like robotics, renewable energy and server power supplies.
In addition, TI’s expanded investment includes a successful pilot earlier this year for development of GaN manufacturing processes on 300mm wafers. Further, TI’s expanded GaN manufacturing processes are fully transferable to 300mm technology, positioning the company to readily scale to customer needs and move to 300mm in the future.
Expanding supply and innovation in GaN technology is the latest example of TI’s commitment to responsible, sustainable manufacturing. TI has committed to use 100% renewable electricity in its U.S. operations by 2027, and worldwide by 2030.