For the information industry, the importance of semiconductor technology is self-evident. With the rapid development of the information industry in recent years, semiconductor technology has also undergone many revolutionary iterations. As the latest technology in the industry, the third-generation semiconductor technology represented by gallium nitride has aroused widespread concern in the industry, and the industry is basically on the verge of an explosion.
Gallium nitride is one of the third-generation semiconductor materials. Among the three generations of semiconductor materials, the first-generation semiconductor materials are represented by elemental semiconductors such as silicon and germanium, which have laid the foundation for the microelectronics industry. The second-generation semiconductor materials are arsenic. Representatives of gallium carbide and indium phosphide have laid the foundation of the information industry; third-generation semiconductor materials represented by silicon carbide and gallium nitride have large band gaps, high breakdown electric fields, large thermal conductivity, and electronic saturation. It has high drift rate and strong anti-radiation ability. It is the "core" of solid-state light sources, power electronics, and microwave radio frequency devices. It is used in semiconductor lighting displays, next-generation mobile communications, energy Internet, high-speed rail transit, new energy vehicles, and consumption. Electronics and other fields have broad application prospects, and will play an important role in energy conservation and emission reduction, industrial transformation and upgrading, and the creation of new economic growth points.
Just a few days ago, Xiaomi launched a 65W gallium nitride charger at its flagship mobile phone conference, which caused the market to pay close attention to gallium nitride. According to reports, gallium nitride materials have the advantages of high power, high frequency, and high thermal conductivity. When used in the field of charging, they can maintain high volume of the charger while maintaining the controllable volume of the charger, which has won the favor of many terminal manufacturers.
Of course, the third-generation semiconductors attract more than just terminal manufacturers. Capital and industrial-level cooperation have already begun. For example, the domestic enterprise Konka Group, on the strength of the group to lay out the third-generation semiconductor industry. As a leading listed company of electronic information in China, semiconductor integrated circuits are the core of Konka Group. In order to completely solve the problem of lack of cores and screens in China, Konka's development of semiconductor business is also imperative.
It is understood that Konka's semiconductor business includes storage and optoelectronics. Recently, Konka and Lehman Optoelectronics will set up a joint venture, which is one of Konka's measures to open up the "outbound" of storage products. Konka recently recruited gallium nitride engineers to accelerate the breakthrough of semiconductor optoelectronics core technology. Zhou Bin, the president of Konka Group, revealed in a telephone interview a few days ago that the annual revenue of Konka's semiconductor business including storage chip distribution has reached 1.3 billion US dollars.
The Konka Group's semiconductor technology division was established in 2018, but the semiconductor business has been in place since 2016, when a memory chip distribution company was established. Established Kangxinwei's storage main control chip design company in Hefei in 2018 and Konka Xinying's packaging and testing company in 2019; also established Chongqing Optoelectronics Research Institute and laid the foundation for Chongqing Semiconductor Optoelectronics Industrial Park, thereby forming two storage and optoelectronic Plate. In addition, Konka and another LED company jointly established Optoelectronics also set up a joint venture company, focusing on the optoelectronics plate business. The two parties cooperated to promote the commercialization of Mini LED and Micro LED new technologies in the field of public video.
"KONKA has made initial breakthroughs in the research and development of Micro LED chips, and has applied for more than 100 global patents. The recruitment of gallium nitride engineers is intended to accelerate progress. In addition to Micro LED chips, there are other applications in the future." Li Hongtao, vice president of Konka Group, said, Xiaomi's application of gallium nitride technology to fast-charging products is different. KONKA strives to break through the core technology of gallium nitride. The first step is to use optoelectronic chips. The 5G era will be very versatile.
The semiconductor optoelectronic display device represented by Micro LED is based on gallium nitride GaN light emitting diode. The larger material energy gap (band gap) of gallium nitride makes it the best choice for blue and green light emitting devices. GaN transistors as power devices and GaN RF amplifiers for communication circuits are also based on GaN semiconductor technology. They all use the characteristics of various aspects of gallium nitride materials from different application requirements.
The establishment of Chongqing Konka Optoelectronics Research Institute is to carry out research and development of compound semiconductor technology and applications such as gallium nitride represented by Micro LED products. At present, the research institute has closely related to the three main application directions of GaN semiconductor devices in optoelectronics, power, and communications, and has made relevant layouts. A research platform environment has been established with GaNLED as the main object. At the same time, it has been a GaN power device from the beginning of planning. GaN RF device technology research provides maximum compatibility, so that core equipment and technology accumulation can be used for different products, maximizing resources.
In fact, before Xiaomi, at the CES2020 show in Las Vegas, the United States earlier this year, a large number of gallium nitride fast charging products have caused the industry to shake. Some research institutions believe that the global GaN fast charge market alone is expected to reach more than 60 billion yuan by 2025. In addition to chargers, gallium nitride materials have great potential in semiconductor fields such as optoelectronic devices and radio frequency devices, and they will accelerate the replacement of silicon-based products in the future. Obviously, the third-generation semiconductor industry is on the verge of explosion.
