Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. (Tokyo; www.shinetsu.co.jp), announced that it has concluded a licensing agreement with Qromis, Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) regarding the patented technology Qromis possesses in the field of gallium nitride (GaN) processing, as Shin-Etsu aggressively moves ahead with its development of GaN-related products.
Shin-Etsu Chemical, together with its subsidiary Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd., which manufactures semiconductor silicon wafers, has been developing and selling substrates such as SOI (Silicon on Insulator) wafers and GaN on Silicon wafers besides its usual line of silicon wafers for power and high-frequency semiconductors.
Shin-Etsu will further expand its product portfolio by utilizing Qromis’ patented substrate technology in addition to advancing the line-up of its existing products, and will address a wide range of customer needs by offering multiple materials and substrates solutions.
The GaN market is expected to grow at a high rate in the future because these devices can significantly help to resolve the conflicting issues of the need for energy conservation and the high-performance requirements essential for mobility evolution in such areas as autonomous driving, 5G communication and deeper digitalization.