Bernin, France –based Soitec, a maker of engineered substrates including silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers (as well as III-V epiwafers through its Picogiga International division), and Chongqing Silian Optoelectronics Science & Technology Co Ltd, which supplies materials, devices and systems for the lighting industry, have entered into an agreement to jointly develop gallium nitride (GaN) template wafers using hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). The resulting GaN template wafers are expected to deliver cost savings for LED manufacturing.

The joint development agreement aims to validate the manufacturability and enable the commercialization of GaN template wafers using Silian’s sapphire substrates and Soitec’s unique HVPE technology. The partners plan to begin sampling GaN template wafers this year.

“Our strategy was to use production-proven silicon epitaxy equipment features and add our innovative gallium source and delivery system to create high-productivity HVPE equipment,” says Chantal Arena, VP & general manager of Soitec Phoenix Labs Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA, where the HVPE technology was developed. “We then successfully developed high-growth-rate processes that, combined with our low-cost precursor, leads to a more cost-effective GaN template than the ones produced by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE),” she claims.

“With our extensive sapphire substrate manufacturing expansion activities in China, we are very well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity and offer these high-quality templates in a cost-effective manner to our sapphire substrate customers,” says Silian’s chief operating officer David Reid.