The LED industry's GaN-on-silicon patent war will be fully launched in the next three years

Although GaN-on-silicon technology has advantages, its prospects for mass production are still unclear, but it has begun to enter production. So what is its patent landscape? Most major LED companies are actively applying for patents related to silicon-based GaN technology, and a few use it as their core strategy and technical route. Yole predicts that this technology will shine in power electronics and RF applications relative to the LED industry because of its low cost and good compatibility with CMOS. Silicon-based GaN substrate faces some technical challenges. The huge lattice mismatch between GaN and silicon results in too high a defect density in the epitaxial layer. And the huge thermal expansion coefficient between the two will cause it to generate large tensile stress when cooling from the growth temperature to room temperature, which will cause cracks in the film and concave bending of the wafer. Yole’s report selects patents that address the above challenges and provides an in-depth analysis of patent holders and their patented technologies, but does not involve patents on active layers or GaN devices. Currently, these patented technologies have made significant progress on key material issues on the surface, such as reducing dislocation density and stress management to prevent wafer breakage and warpage. Yole Développement believes that silicon-based GaN IP is advanced enough to start mass production. More than 50 companies and scientific research institutions are involved in silicon-based GaN IP, and most major GaN manufacturers are among the best in patent applications. Toyoda Gosei, Toshiba, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Nitronex, Soitec and Azzurro have an evenly strong IP portfolio. But Samsung, Dowa, LG, Sharp and NGK Insulators are becoming major forces in the silicon-based GaN IP landscape. Soitec and Sumitomo are leading the way in transferring GaN layers to silicon substrates. Currently, only a few manufacturers are selling epitaxial wafers or templates, and there are very few manufacturers that can commercialize silicon-based GaN devices. Unlike the few IP integrations that have been noticed (Nitronex and International Rectifier, Toshiba and Bridgelux, Soitec and Sumitomo, and Macom (Nitronex) and IQE), GaN-on-silicon IP has not been widely used by companies to promote licensing negotiations and supply cooperation. So far, patent litigation has been few and far between. However, existing IP covers all aspects of these technical challenges, and major GaN manufacturers have applied for a large number of key patents in the past five years (Toshiba, Samsung, LG, Sharp, NGK, Sumitomo, Soitec, Azzurro and Dowa). Moreover, as it develops in RF and power devices, the GaN-on-silicon industry begins to take shape, so the IP war will be in full swing in the next three years.