Silicon-based innovation targets gallium nitride manufacturing hurdle - Interesting Engineering

California-based company Atomera has introduced a materials engineering advancement aimed at addressing the lattice and thermal expansion mismatch issues in gallium nitride (GaN) grown on silicon (GaN... Read original →

Atomera’s MST thin-film approach, if validated at scale, triggers a cascade: upstream silicon wafer fabs can leverage existing 200/300mm CMOS lines for GaN RF production; midstream IDMs like Infineon may pivot from costly SiC to cost-flexible GaN-on-Si; downstream 5G and satcom OEMs could cut BOM costs by over 15%. Yet U.S. export controls loom—if MST is added to the EAR, foundries in Taiwan, China and mainland China face integration barriers. Competitors like Wolfspeed will likely fortify SiC IP walls and push military-grade GaN specs tied to thermal conductivity to lock high-end markets. Within 18 months, if GaN-on-Si achieves >70% yield below 6GHz, at least two global IDMs may scrap planned SiC fabs, reshaping wide-bandgap investment theses.