China solves GaN chip defect puzzle, boosting edge in US tech war

Minimising semiconductor flaws will expand China’s price gap with US for advanced chips used in electronic warfare, aerospace

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Tech researchers have refined GaN crystal growth processes to minimise defects during semiconductor fabrication, resulting in both cost reductions and enhanced performance. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 8:00pm, 21 Feb 2025

Researchers in China say they have pinpointed the main cause of defects in a semiconductor material considered key to boosting the performance of advanced chips used in electronic warfare and other critical sectors that are at the centre of China’s tech rivalry with the United States.

Gallium nitride (GaN), a third-generation semiconductor material, is widely used in devices such as chargers, 5G base stations, radar systems, military communications, and aerospace applications.

China produces 98 per cent of the world’s gallium, and Beijing recently banned exports of the material to the US, making it more difficult – and costly – for the Pentagon to acquire GaN-based chips.

The stakes are high: if China can develop low-cost, high-performance GaN manufacturing techniques, it could expand the existing price gap in semiconductor products between the two nations.

Chinese-made gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) power chips. Photo: Innoscience

GaN fabrication typically uses substrates like silicon and sapphire to support growth. But the process can create misalignments in the crystal structures – referred to as dislocation defects – which lead to local leakage. Such flaws can significantly reduce the performance of GaN-based materials, and therefore, devices.