Applied Materials Joins Imec Industrial Affiliation Program

We are pleased to expand our collaboration with imec to help advance the development of GaN-on-Si (gallium nitride-on-silicon) process and equipment technologies for manufacturing solid state lighting (e.g. LED) and next-generation power electronics components on 8-inch Silicon wafers.

Gallium nitride is a promising material for both optoelectronics (e.g. LED) and advanced power electronic components, by offering higher breakdown voltage and current capacity than silicon which is used in most components today. However, economies of scale are needed to be competitive with silicon devices and that’s where we at Applied come in.

According to a recent report from Strategies Unlimited, the high-brightness LED lighting market size is expected to exceed $3.2 billion by 2013, and IMS Research projects that the total power electronics market will reach $53 billion in 2013.

We are excited to be part of this cutting-edge alliance with industry leaders including Micron Technology, Ultratech and imec. We look forward to future updates with industry-enabling technology.

Click here to read the full press release.