During the CES and MWC exhibitions in 2023, 5G acceleration and EV technologies will gradually take over the highlights of the industry, while the developing technologies from NYCU perfectly match this future trend. NYCU’s CSD Lab is currently working on “world-class III-V electronics technologies” while also seeking to reach out to major companies, such as TSMC or Foxconn, for future collaborations.
Compound Semiconductor Device Research Center (CSD Research Lab) at NYCU is dedicated to developing world-class III–V electronics technologies for academic excellence and supporting the III–V community with frontier technologies for industrial applications. As a global leader in the semiconductor industry, Taiwan must actively invest in the development of innovative technologies to maintain its competitive advantages. CSD Lab will serve as a research platform for the integrated III–V technology for Taiwanese industry from materials, devices, processes, equipment, packages, and testing to pilot line production.
CSD is the only university laboratory worldwide that provides 3 – 6 inch III–V MMIC fabrication services with process capability down to 60–nm. The Lab provides GaAs and GaN foundry services to offer tailored solutions for III-V MMIC and III-V/Si integration for future high-frequency communication, terahertz imaging applications, GaN-based high-power, and high-frequency devices for 5G and EV applications. Besides university-industry cooperative research projects, CSD Research Lab collaborates closely with international research institutions on innovative, pioneering joint research projects.
In 2010, the NYCU research team led by Prof. Edward Yi Chang successfully developed the world’s highest cut-off frequency (ft) of 710 GHz InAs high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). The output performance of world-class high-frequency InAs HEMTs has reached the terahertz (THz) band. As a result, it offers potential for future submillimeter-wave applications, such as space telemetry, imaging radar, and biomedical detection.
From 2013 – 2017, the NYCU center started a research project, “International Center of Excellence in Advanced Heterogeneous Integration of Green Electronics Research – iRICE,” funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan. It aims to develop advanced semiconductor-related technologies to meet future post–Silicon and More–Moore era technology demands. To enhance global competitiveness, this center was established between NYCU – Taiwan and UC Berkeley EECS – USA, based on their long-term solid foundations of research and strength in the semiconductor field. The goal was to establish a world-class nanoelectronics research center in Taiwan. In addition, companies such as TSMC, Applied Materials, Entegris, and Panasonic have joined and co-sponsored the research activities.
Since 2018, NYCU established the Center for Semiconductor Technology Research to bring together cross-disciplinary talents, combined with the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute and the Synchrotron Radiation Center, closely cooperated with TSMC to jointly solve technical bottlenecks facing semiconductor devices with extreme scaling. The research topics are divided into five major topics, namely monolithic stacked devices and circuits, negative capacitance transistor technology, two-dimensional semiconductor devices and materials, low-impedance interconnect and contact resistance technology, and III–V based transistor technology for high-speed and high-frequency applications. In this program, CSD Lab will develop InGaAs FinFET with high cut-off frequency (ft) up to terahertz for high-frequency and high-bandwidth communication applications to meet future IoT and 5G applications. In addition, an integrated process of GaN drain FinFETs is under development targeting high-frequency FinFET with high breakdown voltage.
Another project in progress for CSD Lab is to develop a lighter, longer-distance, faster and safer LiDAR for EV applications. This project cooperates with Foxconn Corporation to develop a LiDAR system with high reliability and low cost for self-driving cars. To achieve the targets of a more extended range and faster plan, the team intends to develop a new high frequency, high current gallium nitride high electron mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs) laser drive integrated with the aforementioned new surface emitting laser chip into a new LiDAR laser light source chip assembly using a flip-chip technique. By using GaN HEMTs to generate high-current and high-speed pulses, LiDAR can achieve higher resolution and longer distances. The ultra-small size of GaN HEMT also makes it the best driving element for lightweight LiDAR applications. In this research project, the CSD team will demonstrate a high-quality beam with a narrow exit angle. This LiDAR light source chipset can also be used in optical digital instruments and electro-optical switches developed by CSD – NYCU to integrate optical, electronic, and mechanical components to ensure good optical and electronic characteristics to meet the demands of extremely light, long distances, faster and safer requirements.
Prof. Edward Yi Chang has been very active in cooperating with leading international institutes, and the cooperation partners include labs from UC Berkeley (USA), Virginia Tech (USA), MIT (USA), TIT (Japan), NTT (Japan), IMEC (Belgium), and Chalmers University (Sweden). The results have been disseminated in high-quality publications. The key findings from these collaborations have resulted in successful technology transfer, which acts as another driving force for developing advanced III-V semiconductor devices in 5G/6G and EV applications. CSD Research Lab is very well equipped with all the necessary tools for III–V hetero-structure product development and has excellent relationships and records with government agencies and industrial partners through successful product development and technology transfers. Researchers at CSD Research Lab look forward to further cooperation with pioneering semiconductor industries and top universities around the world.