News

YESvGaN M32 meeting 25 January 2024 (held online)

We celebrated the highlights of the past 6 months such as the first demonstration of avalanche capabilities in vertical GaN-on-Si diodes. We also discussed the remaining difficulties and how we can keep pushing the boundaries to reach our project goals in the coming months.

The overall spirit? YESvGaN!

Avalanche breakdown capability demonstrated for GaN-on-Si devices (30 November 2023)

Avalanche breakdown capability has been demonstrated for GaN-on-Si devices. A big step forward for the YESvGaN project! Read the results in the as accepted manuscript from CNRS and Siltronic: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.35848/1882-0786/ad106c

YESvGaN-related article (27 November 2023)

An article related to the YESvGaN research was published by the project partners IUNET (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and University of Padova) and Ferdinand-Braun-Institute (FBH): Zagni et al., Correlating Interface and Border Traps With Distinctive Features of C–V Curves in Vertical Al2O3/GaN MOS Capacitors, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

The article is available here: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10329308

Best Student Award and Outstanding Poster Award at ICNS-14
(17 Nov. 2023)

Congratulations to our PhD students Jesús Ortiga Fibla (University of Valencia) and Sondre Michler (Siltronic AG) for receiving the Best Student Award and Outstanding Poster Award on the 14th International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors! We are proud to have them on our team.

Jesús shared how he studies GaN dislocations using UV light assisted Kelvin probe force microscopy. Do dislocations trap charge? How does this charge evolve with time?

Sondre demonstrated the successful growth of a high quality epitaxial stack up to 8.5 µm thick (6 µm drift layer) on 6" Si substrates. By growing this thick epitaxial GaN drift layers, he is pave the way for vertical GaN-on-Si power transistors with high blocking voltage.

Lectures of the summer school published (October 2023)

Two months ago our wonderful YESvGaN-TRANSFORM-PowerElec PhD summer school took place. We want all students to be able to learn all about GaN and SiC from basics to application, therefore most lectures of the summer school are now available for free online:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3f5ksPzdcOqrkCsiLj96NVA1FJabTW4A

YESvGaN-TRANSFORM-PowerElec PhD summer school GaN and SiC power electronics: From basics to application (August 28-30, 2023)

The YESvGaN-TRANSFORM-PowerElec PhD summer school was a great success! Interesting and inspiring talks, enthusiastic participants and an amazing atmosphere lasting until late in the evening. Thank you to everyone that was involved to make this event possible, educational and enjoyable.

2nd YESvGaN newsletter (April 2023)

The 2nd YESvGaN newsletter, providing a summary of the project and its progress of the second year is available for DOWNLOAD.

YESvGaN related paper (5 December 2022)

The YESvGaN collaboration between FBH and UGent resulted in a first publication about the effects of post metallization annealing on Al2O3 atomic layer deposition on n-GaN. Read the open access article here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6641/aca42a

Curtain up for the young researchers at MCL (18 November 2022)

The young researchers at MCL created a video to show how they contribute to the YESvGaN project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX8wDcpGX4w&ab_channel=YESvGaN
MCL uses its expertise on the analysis of thermal transport and reliability testing, to provide inputs for thermal design and for describing material degradation of the YESvGaN system.

YESvGaN M18 meeting (17 November 2022)

We are halfway! The YESvGaN M18 meeting was held online on November 17, 2022. An overall project overview was first presented and followed by a technical presentation of each project partner. After an intense day of presentation we all felt satisfied with the progress YESvGaN is making and the excellent collaboration between all partners.

YESvGaN press release (3 November 2022)

Can we contribute to the worldwide energy challenge by maximizing the efficiency in power conversion at a low cost? The answer is: YESvGaN! Read the entire press release here: https://www.iisb.fraunhofer.de/en/press_media/press_releases/pressearchiv/archiv_2022/YESvGaN.html

First internal YESvGaN colloquium on GaN characterization techniques (17 October 2022)

On Monday 17 October the first internal YESvGaN colloquium took place. Steffen Richter of ULund explained THz ellipsometry and the optical Hall effect. Ana Cros of UVEG presented the usefulness of Raman thermography and Kelvin probe force microscopy and Eldad Bahat-Treidel of FBH demonstrated ECV and other methods for implantation activation characterization. This first internal YESvGaN colloquium has been a great opportunity to strengthen our knowledge and enhance our collaborations. We hope many more colloquiums will follow.

Award for best student poster presentation at IWN 2022
(14 Oct. 2022)

Congratulations to our PhD student Sondre Michler (Siltronic) for winning a best student poster presentation award during his very first conference at IWN 2022! Sondre presented a model that can be used to predict wafer curvature during and after epitaxy. In turn, the model can provide additional valuable information about stress engineering in vertical GaNon-Si(111) devices. The poster showed the validation of the model based on experimental data and how predictable changes can be made to the buffer to tailor the stress build-up in the complete layer-stack.

YESvGaN related paper (25 September 2022)

M. Fregolent of IUNET published a YESvGaN paper on the isolation properties and failure mechanisms of vertical Pt/n-GaN Schottky barrier diodes. Read the full article here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026271422001688?via%3Dihub

YESvGaN introduction video (28 July 2022)

Curious about the YESvGaN project? Watch our 5 min introduction video to understand what YESvGaN is doing and how we want to accomplish a greener future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2egeoXTWw_o

Award for presentation at the SSIE summer school in Brixen
(15 July 2022)

Our PhD student Youssef Hamdaoui (CNRS, ULille and UGent) won the second best presentation award at the SSIE summer school in Brixen. His presentation describes the current status and related results of his PhD thesis dealing with the optimization of quasi-vertical Schottky diodes and the transition to fully vertical GaN-on-silicon devices through the development of the backside contacts, which led to the demonstration of first fully vertical Schottky diodes. Congratulations Youssef! What a great start of your scientific career.

YESvGaN is presenting on the SSIE Summer School in Brixen
(11-15 July 2022)

“Brixen has heard we are present on the SSIE summer PhD school! Five of the lectures were given by YESvGaN partners: AIXTRON, CNRS, IISB, Bosch and IUNET. The full program can be found here: https://ssie.dei.unipd.it/technical-program-track-2/  Thank you to the University of Padova for the organization

First YESvGaN review meeting (29 June 2022)

We successfully passed our first review meeting. We are proud to be part of the YESvGaN consortium. Thank you to KDT JU to make this possible. We are excited for the second project year!

YESvGaN-related article paper (08 June 2022)

A portable charger for electric cars offers several advantages for our green future. The latest publication of Ditze et al. (IISB) demonstrates a compact and highly efficient prototype. The article is available as open access article: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/11/12/1818

YESvGaN-related article paper (06 June 2022)

An article on resonant push-pull DC-DC converters suitable for switching frequencies in the MHz-range was published by Weitz et al. (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg in cooperation with the project partner Fraunhofer-IISB) on the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. The article is available as open access article under: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9681301

3rd YESvGaN project meeting at Bosch in Renningen, Germany
(01/02 June 2022)

After one year of hard work, the YESvGaN consortium finally met in real life! The first day an update of all work packages was given, showing that despite all challenges we are gradually advancing towards the industrialization of vertical GaN membrane transistors. The presentations were followed by a poster session by all partners showing the expertise of many partners is complementary which makes this project into a great success.
At the second day, face to face technical sessions were organized. After this we all went home with a satisfied feeling. Thank you to Bosch to organize this meeting in Renningen. We are looking forward to see everyone again soon!

“YESvGaN power” a colloquium on Semiconductor Technology and Metrology (16 May 2022)

Two of our YESvGaN experts gave an online colloquium demonstrating the YESvGaN power. In the first part of the colloquium, Elke Meissner of Fraunhofer IISB explained the concept, the advantages and the challenges of YESvGaN. Next, Sondre Michler of Siltronic presents a model that relates the epitaxy process to the final wafer curvature during growth of GaN on large Si wafers. The colloquium was received enthusiastically and attracted 185 participants.

First YESvGaN newsletter (April 2022)

The 1st YESvGaN newsletter, providing a summary of the project and its progress of the first year is available for DOWNLOAD.

Preferred Supplier (25 Jan. 2022)

EV Group is the first semiconductor equipment supplier ever that receives a preferred supplier certificate from Bosch. Proud to co-operate with both in the YESvGaN project.

Read the news: https://www.evgroup.com/company/news/detail/ev-group-recognized-by-bosch-as-a-preferred-supplier-of-semiconductor-equipment/

YESvGaN-related conference proceeding paper (5 January 2022)

An article on the robust Cu-CU thermocompression bonding approach of Fraunhofer IISB and NanoWired using prefabricated Cu nanowire films has been published. Read the full article here: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9663890/authors#authors

AIXTRON says YESvGaN! (14 Dec. 2021)

The project partner AIXTRON (DE) has announced that it is a partner in the European YESvGaN project. The article gives a brief introduction to the project and highlights the expected benefits of the planned project innovations.

Read the article on the Compound Semiconductor: https://compoundsemiconductor.net/article/113956/Aixtron_says_YESvGaN.

YESvGaN-related paper (08 Nov. 2021)

The first paper related to YESvGaN was published by the project partner IUNET (IT): M. Meneghini et al., "GaN-based power devices: Physics, reliability, and perspectives" Journal of Applied Physics 130, 181101 (2021).

The full article is available here: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0061354.

YESvGaN M6 meeting 04 November 2021 (held online)

The YESvGaN consortium met online on the 4th of November. In the first part of the meeting, the status of the different work packages was presented and the upcoming challenges were discussed. The second part of the meeting was used to elaborate on the technical details of some of the key results. In general, the project status is considered to be very good despite the difficult conditions caused by COVID-19.

We want to thank all partners for their contributions! We are looking forward to once see all those happy faces in real-life!

YESvGaN Kick-off Meeting 07 May 2021 (held online)

The ECSEL project YESvGaN, coordinated by Bosch, was launched on 07 May 2021 with an online kick-off meeting attended by about 60 project members as well as the project officer Francisco Ignacio.