Securing next-generation power semiconductor materials and device technology
Expectations are high for local production of materials, components, and equipment using domestic technology.
Miniaturized "Key Electric Vehicle Battery Development Technology"
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 6th that it has developed, for the first time in Korea, an 800V vertical power semiconductor technology using a gallium nitride (GaN) single crystal substrate.

Power semiconductors convert, control, process, and supply electrical energy into the form required by the system. They are key components that enable efficient power management in electrically powered products such as home appliances, smartphones, electric vehicles, solar power generation, and data centers. The vertical power semiconductor developed by the research team utilizes a gallium nitride single-crystal substrate, resulting in higher breakdown voltage characteristics than conventional horizontal power semiconductors.

The ETRI research team overcame these defects by vertically stacking and optimizing identical gallium nitride epilayers on a gallium nitride single-crystal substrate. As a result, they successfully achieved high breakdown voltage characteristics and developed an 800V vertical gallium nitride diode power semiconductor. By developing technology to grow gallium nitride epitaxial layers, a key material, using domestic technology, it is expected that we will be able to reduce our dependence on foreign materials and the gap in original technology.

Power semiconductor materials considered include silicon (Si), silicon carbide (SiC), and gallium nitride (GaN). However, silicon has limitations in terms of switching speed and breakdown voltage. Gallium nitride, due to its material properties, is heat-resistant and has a switching speed of tens of MHz, so it does not require separate energy storage space, enabling system miniaturization that is one-third that of silicon.

With an energy differential of 3.4 eV, more than three times that of silicon, it is advantageous for high voltages, attracting attention as a next-generation power semiconductor material. It is particularly essential for the development of electric vehicle batteries, where high voltage and miniaturization are key. This is because it can increase electricity costs by reducing power loss and improving power conversion efficiency, and miniaturization can reduce the size of electric vehicles.

“Gallium nitride power semiconductors can maximize high-output, high-efficiency, and high-voltage characteristics,” said Lee Hyeong-seok, ETRI’s chief technology officer and the research director. “Because they can be miniaturized, they can be used in next-generation power semiconductors for electric vehicles.”