Semiconductor today

Discrete device designer and manufacturer Nexperia of Nijmegen, the Netherlands (which operates wafer fabs in Hamburg, Germany, and Hazel Grove Manchester, UK) and the Hamburg University of Technology (TU Hamburg) have launched an endowed professorship in power electronic devices. The position, held by professor Holger Kapels, will drive research on next-generation semiconductor components and train highly skilled engineers at TU Hamburg’s School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics. As part of this initiative, Kapels will also lead the newly founded Institute for Power Electronic Devices...

Renesas Electronics Corp of Tokyo, Japan has introduced three new high-voltage 650V gallium nitride (GaN) FETs for AI data centers and server power supply systems including the new 800V HVDC architecture, E-mobility charging, UPS battery backup devices, battery energy storage and solar inverters...

Silicon photonics-based chip-to-chip optical connectivity firm Ayar Labs of San Jose, CA, USA — which is pioneering co-packaged optics (CPO) for large-scale AI workloads — has expanded its leadership team with Vivek Khanzodé joining it as VP of engineering. To support its efforts in high-volume manufacturing and CPO adoption, the firm has also opened a new office in Taiwan and doubled the size of its San Jose headquarters, bolstering its aim to transform AI connectivity with optical interconnects...

Intelligent power and sensing technology firm onsemi of Scottsdale, AZ, USA plans to invest $8m with Stony Brook University to establish a wide-bandgap research center to advance innovation in power semiconductors and foster the next generation of skilled professionals in the field...

Driven by the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the electrification of everything demanding higher levels of power efficiency and reliability, Microchip Technology Inc of Chandler, AZ, USA has announced a new partnership agreement for its mSiC products and technology to be used in the designs of global power and energy management firm Delta Electronics Inc. The synergies between the firms aim to accelerate the development of innovative silicon carbide (SiC) solutions, energy-saving products and systems...

AXT Inc of Fremont, CA, USA — which makes gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and germanium (Ge) substrates and raw materials — says that Ms Christine Russell, a member of the board of directors, passed away on 11 July...

Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) are a major challenge in everyday medical practice, as they often cannot be treated with antibiotics. According to the Robert Koch Institute, there are 400,000–600,000 hospital-acquired infections in Germany annually, and 10,000–20,000 people die from them. Alternative treatments are therefore needed...

Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) are a major challenge in everyday medical practice, as they often cannot be treated with antibiotics. According to the Robert Koch Institute, there are 400,000–600,000 hospital-acquired infections in Germany annually, and 10,000–20,000 people die from them. Alternative treatments are therefore needed...

Quinas Technology Ltd (which was spun off from Lancaster University in early 2023) has been named by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as winner in the ICT Start-Up category of the 2025 WIPO Global Awards. Quinas is one of just ten companies worldwide to receive this honour and the first ever winner from the UK...

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany has developed solar cells based on III-V semiconductors that can achieve an efficiency of over 40% indoors (Kliitzke et al, Applied Physics Letters 127, 023301)...

As presented at the International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors (ICNS-15) in Malmö, Sweden (6–11 July) in a paper by Kouei Kubota et al, Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd — through joint research with the research group led by assistant professor Takuya Maeda of the University of Tokyo’s School of Engineering — has discovered the scattering mechanism of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a heterojunction formed from scandium aluminium nitride (ScAlN) and gallium nitride (GaN). ScAlN/GaN is a strong candidate to be the barrier layer in next-generation high-frequency GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs)...

As presented at the International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors (ICNS-15) in Malmö, Sweden (6–11 July) in a paper by Kouei Kubota et al, Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd — through joint research with the research group led by assistant professor Takuya Maeda of the University of Tokyo’s School of Engineering — has discovered the scattering mechanism of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a heterojunction formed from scandium aluminium nitride (ScAlN) and gallium nitride (GaN). ScAlN/GaN is a strong candidate to be the barrier layer in next-generation high-frequency GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs)...

The Vermont Gallium Nitride (V-GaN) Tech Hub — a consortium founded in 2023 with over 60 member and partners and led by the University of Vermont (UVM) and including GlobalFoundries and the State of Vermont — has secured $3.4m of funding from the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) for a microelectronics testing laboratory to bolster innovation and economic development in the Green Mountain State and the Northeast...

The Vermont Gallium Nitride (V-GaN) Tech Hub — a consortium founded in 2023 with over 60 member and partners and led by the University of Vermont (UVM) and including GlobalFoundries and the State of Vermont — has secured $3.4m of funding from the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) for a microelectronics testing laboratory to bolster innovation and economic development in the Green Mountain State and the Northeast...

Nanotechnology firm UbiQD Inc of Los Alamos, NM, USA has entered into an exclusive, multi-year agreement to supply its proprietary fluorescent quantum dot (QD) technology to cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) module maker First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA. The agreement paves the way for the incorporation of QD technology into First Solar’s thin-film bifacial photovoltaic (PV) solar panels...

The synthesis of silicon carbide (SiC) requires high temperatures and significant power, posing challenges in reducing the environmental impact of the manufacturing process...

In collaboration with Gyeonggi-based Wavice Inc, South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has developed localization technology for gallium nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) used in transmit/receive modules for military radars and satellites for the first time in Korea using fab-based technology. This is expected to significantly contribute to defense technology self-reliance by enabling the localization of key components not only for military radars but also for high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems...

Power Integrations Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which provides high-voltage integrated circuits for energy-efficient power conversion) says that Jennifer A. Lloyd PhD will be its next chief executive officer, succeeding Balu Balakrishnan, who has been CEO since 2002. A former member of Power Integrations’ board of directors, Lloyd has been reappointed to the board. Both appointments are effective from 21 July...

EPC Space LLC of Andover, MA, USA (which provides high-reliability radiation-hardened enhancement-mode gallium nitride-on-silicon transistors and ICs for power management in space and other harsh environments) has announced the EPC7C021 (available now through EPC Space and authorized distributors), a high-performance, three-phase motor demonstration board featuring the radiation-hardened EPC7011L7C eGaN IC. Designed for ease of evaluation and system integration, the EPC7C021 delivers a user-friendly, flexible platform for developing motor drive applications such as reaction and momentum wheels, ion thrusters, robotics and other automation in demanding radiation environments...

Semiconductor characterization and modeling company Incize of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium and semiconductor materials and IP licensing company Atomera Inc of Los Gatos, CA, USA have announced a strategic collaboration to enhance gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) technologies...