GaN RF Industry: Landscape and Future Evolution presentation held at CS International 2017 by Zhen ZONG of Yole Développement

CS International © 2017

From Technologies to Markets

GaN RF Industry:

Landscape and Future Evolution

Zhen ZONG

Analyst

[email protected]

http://www.yole.fr/

2@2017 | www.yole.fr | CS International

INTRODUCTION

2

3

4

5

GaN’s added values

GaN RF players and products

GaN RF market size and evolution

Wireless infrastructure and future development

Comparison GaN-on-SiC & GaN-on-Silicon

Why do we need GaN in RF industry?

Who are selling and in which market?

What’s the industry landscape?

The most important market segment

1

6 Conclusion

Which technology has more potential?

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GAN / SIC / SI / GAAS: MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Material

Breakdown

electric field

(MV/cm)

Thermal

conductivity

(W/cm/K)

Electron density

(1013/cm²)

Mobility

(cm²/V/s)

Saturation

velocity

(cm/s)

Si 0.6 1.5 0.3 1300 1x107

GaAs 0.5 0.5 0.3 6000 1.5x107

GaN 3.5 1.5 1 1500 2.7x107

Wide band gapHigh charge

density

High electron

mobility

Temperature

tolerance

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GAN’S ADDED VALUES

High voltage

operation

High current

density

High

Frequency

GaN material properties HEMT benefits RF System benefits

High power

Wide band

gap

High charge

density

High electron

mobility

Higher

impedanceTemperature

tolerance

Smaller size

Wider

bandwidth

High efficiency

Lower

capacitance

Ruggedness

Low Noise

PA

LNA

Switch

VCO

Mixer

Gain Block

Phase shifters

Var. Attenuators

Possible applications


GaN offersvariousbenefits at system level

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GAN RF INDUSTRY: EVENTS AND HISTORY

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

Company’s first GaN

device

Company’s first GaN

HEMT

first GaN MMIC

Company’s

first GaN

HEMT

GaN HEMT

volume production

Acquisition of Eudyna

Company’s first

GaN foundry

service

Joint venture between

Fujitsu and Sumitomo:

Eudyna

Company’s First GaN

device

Company’s first

GaN transistor

GaN production

Merger of Triquint

and RFMD

Company’s First

GaN device

Acquisition

of Nitronex

Merger of NXP and Freescale

Cree’s RF and power division

become Wolfspeed

NXP’s RF division sold to JAC

capital and becomes Ampleon

Partnership with Cree

Company’s first

GaN device

Company’s first

GaN device

Company’s

first GaN

MMIC

Acquisition of

Wolfspeed by Infineon

Acquisition

of Hittite by

ADI


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MAJOR GAN RF PLAYERS AND THEIR GAN PRODUCT RANGE

After more than 15 years’ development, companies have developed a

complete GaN RF product line ranging from DC to Ka band.

L band S band C band X band Ku band Ka band

*Based on commercially available GaN product

catalogues and datasheets.


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WHICH APPLICATIONS ALREADY USE GAN?

GaN’spresence in the RF market is more focusing on high-power, high-frequency market

Frequency (GHz)

Power (W)

1

10

>10000

100

1000

2 4 8 3216 64

1

0.1

Radars & avionics

Wireless

backhaul

CATV

SATCOM

VSAT

Base

transceiver

stations


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Wireless

infrastructure

VSAT

SATCOM

CATV

Radar & avionics

COMMERCIALLY-AVAILABLE GAN RF POWER PRODUCTS

*Each point stands for a GaNproduct, based on the commercial product catalogue.

This diagram shows every commercially-available GaN product

Frequency (GHz)

Power (W)

Others(ISM, RF Energy, etc.)


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GAN RF DEVICES: MARKET BREAKDOWN

Comparison by application: 2015 - 2022

TOTAL

~ $298M

©2016

Yole Développement

TOTAL

~ $755MCAGR + 14%


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GLOBAL CONNECTIONS BY TECHNOLOGY

In 2022, total connections will be 1.5x greater than 2010

• Global connections by technology (in millions, excluding M2M)

Source:

GSMA,ITU,

Yole estimation


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GaN product roadmap

GAN WILL PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE WIRELESS NETWORK

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

4G evolution: LTE evolves in parallel

Evaluation

criteria

Release15 5G

work items3GPP Timeline

Release16 5G

work itemsRelease17+ 5G specifications

Estimated First

5G launch5G next phase

Submissions of

proposalsEvaluations

IMT-2020

specifications

Standardization for 5G

LTE ~4GHz

LTE-Advanced ~4GHz

LTE-Pro/5G ~6GHz

Backhaul/5G 24-30GHz


ITU-IMT 2020 Timeline


GaN will keep

evolve along

with the new

network

specifications

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2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023


Evaluation

criteria

Release15 5G

work items3GPP Timeline

Release16 5G


Estimated First


Submissions of


IMT-2020

specifications


GaN product roadmapLTE ~4GHz

LTE-Advanced ~4GHz

LTE-Pro/5G ~6GHz



ITU-IMT 2020 Timeline


GaN will keep

evolve along

with the new

network

specifications

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2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023


Evaluation

criteria

Release15 5G

work items

IMT 2020 Timeline

3GPP TimelineRelease16 5G


Estimated First


Submissions of


IMT-2020

specifications


GaN product roadmapLTE ~4GHz

LTE-Advanced ~4GHz

LTE-Pro/5G ~6GHz



5G development scheme forecast

Proposal

submission

IMT

specification

Rapid

developmentInitial

development

Fully fledged

stages

2019 2020 2028

Massive

implementation



GaN will keep

evolve along

with the new

network

specifications

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WIRELESS INFRASTRUCTURE: GAN RF PRODUCT SCHEME

Frequency (GHz)

Power (W)

Base transceiver

stations (GaN

presence)

Wireless backhaul

(GaN presence)

It’s clear that there’s still big potential for GaN devices

in the wireless backhaul market. For base stations, GaN

will likely stay in the high-power domain. Potential new

entrants: Ampleon, Sony, Texas Instruments, Avago

Technologies, and more.

Wireless backhaul

(total market)

Base station

(total market)

*Based on commercial GaN product catalogue


Competition in the wireless infrastructure market is intense, since almost every GaN player has similar products

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GaN-on-SiC cons:

x Relatively smaller wafer size

x Cost, cost, costGaN

On

SiC

GAN-ON-SILICON VS. GAN-ON-SIC: COMPARISON

The comparison between GaN-on-Si and GaN-on-SiC has been one of the GaN RF industry’s most important questions

GaN

On

Silicon

GaN-on-SiC pros:

Technologically more mature

Multi-source supplier possibility

An established supply chain

Better performance

GaN-on-Si pros:

Lower cost

Compatible with silicon process

Sufficient (slightly inferior) performance

Possibility of 8” (or larger) wafer production

GaN-on-Si cons:

x Not many suppliers

x Lower reliability level

x Limited thermal performance

x Still expensive compared to LDMOS


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GaN-on-SiC

GaN-on-Silicon

COMMERCIALLY-AVAILABLE GAN-ON-SIC-DEVICES VS. GAN-ON-SILICON DEVICES

There’s no doubt that GaN-on-SiCis more popular today than GaN-on-Silicon

• GaN-on-SiC’s maturity has made it predominant over GaN-

on-Silicon at present. Most GaN RF implementations are

realized with GaN-on-SiC devices.

• It seems GaN-on-Silicon’s price advantage can’t yet cover its

performance shortcomings.

• Right now, GaN-on-Silicon is awkwardly positioned between

GaN-on-SiC and LDMOS: high performance/high price for

GaN-on-SiC and low performance/low price for LDMOS.

• What might the opportunity be for GaN-on-Silicon? Perhaps

a cost-sensitive market and LDMOS can’t handle, such as

CATV.

• We see new GaN-on-Silicon products for base station and

we will follow their market impact.


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GAN-ON-SIC AND GAN-ON-SILICON: FUTURE DEVELOPMENT SCHEME

Scenario 1

GaN-on-Silicon will become cost-driven and GaN-on-SiC will be more performance-driven

• Based on the current situation and available information, GaN-on-SiC will likely continue dominating theGaN RF industry over the next five years.

GaN-on-SiC

First device

2000 2005 2010 2015

GaN-on-Silicon

Defense

5G

CATV

VSATFiber

optic

20302020

LTECATV

VSAT

Scenario 1 : GaN-on-Silicon tries to enter several

markets but is not able to take a big market share.

GaN-on-SiC continues rising.

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Scenario 2


• Based on the current situation and available information, GaN-on-SiC will likely continue dominating the GaN RFindustry over the next five years.

GaN-on-SiC

First device

2000 2005 2010 2015

LTE

GaN-on-Silicon

Defense

5G

CATV

RF Energy

CATVVSATFiber

optic

2020 2030

Fiber

optic

VSAT

5G

Scenario 2: The first 5G implantations are realized with

GaN-on-SiC. GaN-on-Silicon eventually catches up and

takes over the market share, making it possible to

penetrate RF energy and other applications,


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Scenario 3


• Based on the current situation and available information, GaN-on-SiC will likely continue dominating the GaN RFindustry over the next five years.

GaN-on-SiC

First device

2000 2005 2010 2015

GaN-on-Silicon

Defense 5GRF Energy

CATV

VSAT

Fiber

optic

20302020

LTECATV

VSAT

Scenario 3: GaN-on-Silicon is massively adopted for 5G

implementations, its sales help the technology, and it

continues entering other applications like VSAT, RF

Energy, as well as other applications.


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CONCLUSION

• GaN’s a prominent technology with big prospect, the industry begins embrace this new technology.

• The barrier is still the price, more effort and patience are needed.

• In the long term, GaN’s future is unquestionable.


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Technology

GaN RF Industry: Landscape and Future Evolution presentation held at CS International 2017 by Zhen ZONG of Yole Développement