UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — China recently began manufacturing gallium nitride, a type of semiconductor used in the manufacture of a variety of consumer power electronics such as cell phones and computers, as well as medical equipment, automobiles, wind turbines, and solar power plants. exports were restricted. LED light bulbs, etc.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China produces nearly 98% of the world’s semiconductor gallium supply. In response to the country’s move to restrict exports of this compound, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has called for proposals from U.S. scientists to develop alternative solutions to gallium nitride-based semiconductors, and four teams have Each project was awarded $1 million. -year research sprint.
Patrick Lenahan, a distinguished professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, will study the possibility of replacing gallium nitride-based devices with boron nitride. Lenahan will be joined in the study by co-principal investigators from Ohio State University, the University of Iowa, and QuantCAD, a quantum technology startup based in Iowa City, Iowa, and Chicago.
“We think boron could be a good replacement for gallium in technologically important gallium nitride-based applications, but we don’t know exactly how this will turn out,” Lenahan said. . “Our team, which includes theorists and experimentalists, is trying to figure out how boron nitride physically works in the systems we are actually interested in, and the potential of using boron nitride in place of gallium nitride. We will continue to work to find out what the shortcomings are.
Gallium nitride, which is composed of 50% gallium and 50% nitrogen, has the advantage of being a wide bandgap semiconductor, meaning it can withstand higher electric fields than lower bandgap semiconductors like silicon, Lenahan said. , and can withstand higher voltages and temperatures. Boron nitride has physical properties comparable to, but much less understood than, gallium nitride, and may perform similarly in some important applications.
