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Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

wired.co.uk

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Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#11

Post by ChuckMcM »

mnemonicsloth wrote: post #3

All of three paragraphs long. Quotes a CEO talking his book. If GaN were going to replace Si (it isn't), this isn't how you'd find out.

   > If GaN were going to replace Si (it isn't), this 
   > isn't how you'd find out.
I think the generalized form of this statement is under appreciated. In my experience it is common for company leaders to always position their company's products as the "next big thing" and it is never this sort of announcement that makes it the "next big thing" or even foretells the next big thing. So often the actual next big thing sort of "explodes" into your consciousness as "everything" is using/employing/copying it. And following back the bread crumbs to the first mentions, rarely include a lot of pre-press on how good its going to be.

That said, GaN power transistors are a thing. They were used in the winning inverter contest Google ran[1], I've played with some samples from Mouser [2] and they really are amazing. I thought IGBT transistors would replace power MOSFETs but now I'm pretty sure it will be these bad boys.

[1] http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2016/02/and-winner-of-1-m...

[2] http://www.mouser.com/pdfdocs/FlyerSMDChopperBoardPGA26E19BA...

Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#12

Post by wolfgke »

If Gallium nitride would really replace silicon for computer chips and the chips are really better, this would be an evolutionary step in the chip production, but not a disruption. A disruptive innovation (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disruptive_innova...) is characterized to create "a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leaders and alliances.". This clearly isn't the case here.

TLDR: Dear tech journalists, stop putting bullshit words into headlines and articles if you don't know their meanings.

Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#13

Post by marshray »

wolfgke wrote: post #12

If Gallium nitride would really replace silicon for computer chips and the chips are really better, this would be an evolutionary step in the chip production, but not a disruption. A disruptive innovation (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disruptive_innova... ) is characterized to create "a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established…

I think if you consider the many tens or even hundreds of $B currently invested in Si foundry tooling which could be obsoleted by this transition the word 'disruptive' is appropriate.

However, the semiconductor industry seems uniquely well suited to handle this as they seem to coordinate their already highly disruptive process steps across much of the industry. E.g. https://www.bing.com/search?q=Intel%20Samsung%20TSMC%20reach...

Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#15

Post by deciplex »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #11
mnemonicsloth wrote: post #3

All of three paragraphs long. Quotes a CEO talking his book. If GaN were going to replace Si (it isn't), this isn't how you'd find out.

> If GaN were going to replace Si (it isn't), this > isn't how you'd find out. I think the generalized form of this statement is under appreciated. In my experience it is common for company leaders to always position their company's products as the "next big thing" and it is never this sort of announcement that makes it the "next big thing" or even foretells the next big thing. So often the actual next big thing sort…

> And following back the bread crumbs to the first mentions, rarely include a lot of pre-press on how good its going to be.

You'd find it of course, but you'll also find it for everything else that failed. Its predictive power is near to zero.

Also, Betteridge's Law applies here, as always.

Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#16

Post by madengr »

arijon wrote: post #2

If you are interested, read up on SiC, Silicon Carbide. It is better then Gallium Nitride and Silicon for high voltage power small electronics because it has higher thermal conductivity. I randomly learned about it when I was fixing my cars breaks, apparently that is the material that is used :)

GaN is grown on SiC; best of both.

Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#17

Post by zevets »

cordite wrote: post #8

The list of application domains looks like a laundry list from an elevator pitch. I'd be more interested in having an introduction of how it is used today, measurable aspects of how it compares to Silicon in application and manufacturing. Before identifying futuristic technology, identify the pain points shared by aspects of futuristic technology then show how GaN can solve that. Provide a directed plan, not a dream.

Military radars and other high power electronics

Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#18

Post by arijon »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #10
arijon wrote: post #2

If you are interested, read up on SiC, Silicon Carbide. It is better then Gallium Nitride and Silicon for high voltage power small electronics because it has higher thermal conductivity. I randomly learned about it when I was fixing my cars breaks, apparently that is the material that is used :)

> I randomly learned about it when I was fixing my cars breaks, apparently that is the material that is used :) What is it used for? I'm familiar with SiC in the form of grit (grinding agent, looks like fine-grained sand) when I'm making telescope optics. It's extremely hard, and it grinds glass better than anything except diamond.

The disk break...I guess because it has high thermal resistance. You make telescope optics? For fun or work? or both?

Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#19

Post by arijon »

madengr wrote: post #16
arijon wrote: post #2

If you are interested, read up on SiC, Silicon Carbide. It is better then Gallium Nitride and Silicon for high voltage power small electronics because it has higher thermal conductivity. I randomly learned about it when I was fixing my cars breaks, apparently that is the material that is used :)

GaN is grown on SiC; best of both.

ahh I didn't know that.

Re: Gallium nitride is about to disrupt silicon?

#20

Post by Florin_Andrei »

arijon wrote: post #18
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I randomly learned about it when I was fixing my cars breaks, apparently that is the material that is used :) What is it used for? I'm familiar with SiC in the form of grit (grinding agent, looks like fine-grained sand) when I'm making telescope optics. It's extremely hard, and it grinds glass better than anything except diamond.

The disk break...I guess because it has high thermal resistance. You make telescope optics? For fun or work? or both?

Just a hobby at the moment. Working on a 300 mm mirror right now.
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