The basic material of the chip is silicon, and the source of silicon is to continuously extract 99.99999% silicon from a pile of sand. Then the silicon is polished into a silicon wafer, then the silicon wafer is made into a wafer, and finally a chip is formed through thousands of processes. These are all based on silicon, so the chips on the market are also collectively called silicon-based chips.
However, silicon-based chips also face a problem, that is, the limitation of physical limits.
With the continuous breakthrough of chip manufacturing technology, 4nm, 3nm or even more advanced 1nm has been explored, but the physical limit will eventually become a constraint. At that time, when the silicon-based chip comes to the end, human science and technology may also be slow.
Therefore, exploring new technologies and materials has become a hot topic of great concern. But is it really possible to make a breakthrough in new materials other than silicon-based chips? The answer is possible.
Good news came that Innoseco (Suzhou) Semiconductor Co., Ltd., a Chinese enterprise, achieved a major breakthrough in silicon-based gallium nitride materials and completed mass production. Innoseco has established an 8-inch silicon-based gallium nitride production line, which means not only conquering new materials, but also entering the mass production stage.
According to the data, after the completion of the silicon-based gallium nitride chip production line, the annual output value can reach 654.38+000 billion, and the annual production capacity can also reach 780,000 silicon-based gallium nitride chips.
This is the world's first gallium nitride chip mass production project, which will bring great significance to the development of domestic chips under the attack of China enterprises.
Nowadays, the industry is constantly exploring new materials and processes other than traditional silicon-based chips. Previously, the 8-inch graphene wafer researched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made remarkable progress in the semiconductor field. Because mass production has not been achieved, carbon-based chips made of graphene are still in the research stage.
However, gallium nitride chips are different. Innoseco established a production line to promote the large-scale production of gallium nitride. So can gallium nitride obtain silicon-based chips? What about the performance?
Gallium nitride belongs to the third generation semiconductor material. Unlike silicon, gallium nitride cannot be formed naturally and must be synthesized artificially. Compared with silicon material, its advantages are obvious. The power of devices made of gallium nitride is 900 times that of silicon. The band gap is about 3 times that of silicon. The breakdown field strength is also 0 times higher than that of silicon 165438+.
In addition, gallium nitride has the advantages of high heat dissipation, small volume and low loss. If gallium nitride can be developed, it is no problem to replace silicon-based chips. Gallium nitride can be used for chargers, components and other parts.
Silicon-based chips have dominated the chip industry for decades, and it is Americans who develop silicon materials and master patented technology. Therefore, as long as silicon-based chips are used, no matter how many technologies are self-developed, it is difficult to bypass American technology from the root.
Moore's law is about to reach its limit, which is a recognized fact in the industry, and it is only a matter of time. When the transistors that the integrated circuit can accommodate cannot be further improved, it will face new challenges in the post-Moore era. That is, new materials and new processes.
Some chip companies focus on packaging, while others are exploring new chip materials. The post-Moore challenge that China will face is that the industrial chain is too wide and too long. Big but not strong is a problem that needs to be solved. Only by upgrading the industrial chain can we meet the challenge smoothly.
At the same time, there is still a long way to go in mask aligner, photoresist and chip manufacturing technology. So generally speaking, China enterprises can conquer new materials, but they are ready to meet the challenge, and the real challenge is yet to come.
The United States has mastered a large number of chip technologies, so when the chip rules are implemented for China enterprises in 2020, almost no enterprise can conquer China enterprises beyond American technology. This also makes us realize that we must fundamentally solve technical problems.
Innoseco's gallium nitride chip may be only the first step, and it is not easy to change the whole chip market pattern. So I look forward to more technological breakthroughs, and I will face the challenge and hold my head high.
How to treat Innoseco's breakthrough in new materials?