No. 377: Development of a gallium nitride wafer for LED elements and power semiconductors (December 11, 2011)

NGK Insulators developed a gallium nitride wafer to be used for LED elements and power semiconductors for the inverter of electric vehicles. Using the liquid phase method that creates crystals from liquid materials, the company successfully produced a single-crystal gallium nitride wafer. It hopefully can increase the luminance efficiency of an LED element and can be used for the inverter of electric vehicles.

The method used is NGK’s self-developed flux method that is a kind of liquid phase method. Using this method, the company successfully made a wafer completely transparent and colorless. The surface defect density is as low as 100,000 per square centimeter. Therefore, a wafer produced by liquid phase method can increase the illuminance efficiency of an LED element greater than a wafer produced by the gas phase method that create crystals from gaseous materials. The company plans to start mass production of its new wafer by 2014 and wishes to achieve sales of 10 billion yen in 2018.