Technical Feasibility, Throughput and Cost of Manufacturing InP High Speed Electronic Devices in a Multiproject Multimaterial Production Facility

The demand for electronic devices exhibiting higher power, higher frequency of operation, better linearity and improved efficiency at acceptable price is increasing steadily, commensurate with the huge demand for wireless communications. Devices fabricated from compound semiconductors such as Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), Gallium Nitride (GaN), and Indium Phosphide (InP) are able to provide the required performance. The InP component of the market for such devices has been estimated by industry analysts to be $30M by 2012. The total value of the market at the product level is a multiple of this figure, and inclusion of high performance components can provide significant or even crucial market discriminators. InP devices provide important discriminators in civilian applications such as point-to-point microwave links and communications, vehicular radar, in defence applications such as electronic warfare, missile seekers and radar, and specialist research applications such as radio astronomy. This latter application represents a significant proportion of the early market, and is a component of the market which the UK and the partners in this project are particularly well placed to secure. The STFC has provided substantial research funding to Manchester University for the development of InP low noise amplifiers and high speed analogue to digital converters for possible application in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) international radio telescope. With this funding, Manchester has demonstrated novel transistor devices in InP with applications beyond the SKA, namely in mobile communications and other civilian markets. The objective of this technology transfer project between Manchester University and INEX is to establish the technical feasibility, throughput capacity and cost base for high speed InP device production at INEX. It represents the first step in a strategy to establish a UK supply chain for advanced InP components. The need for the UK to ensure continued access to critical advanced components and circuits has been highlighted in the Defence Technology Strategy. At a time where export controls are imposed by the US on high speed electronic components, a UK production solution will assist realisation of the Technology Strategy Board's desire to maintain Information and Communication Technology as a key area for UK technology-inspired innovation. Demonstration of a supply chain and in particular a production solution for InP devices may also be critical to the UK securing a commercial return from its potential investment in the construction phase of the Square Kilometre Array international radio telescope, scheduled for the period 2012-2020. INEX was the first of the TSB supported micro- and nano-technology facilities charged with development of a strong micro- and nano-technology industry in the UK. Similarly, Manchester University has benefited from substantial infrastructure investment in materials growth, processing and test equipment from both the public and private sectors. This Mini-PIPSS project leverages this infrastructure investment. Both INEX and the materials growth facility at Manchester operate to ISO9001:2000 quality standards. The timescale to commencement of eventual production activity is estimated to be 3 years. Subject to the outcome of this feasibility study, we will need to integrate the individual processes trialled here to fabricate, test and characterise transistors appropriate for identified viable markets in 2009/10, and perform life-test and reliably trials and process sustaining and yield improvement studies in 2010/11. We therefore expect to seed the market with evaluation samples in 2011 and commence production in 2012. The partnership already has strong links with several potential end users of the technology. We anticipate creation of up to 19 highly skilled jobs at INEX and Manchester by 2012, in addition to jobs created or safeguarded within downstream companies in the supply chain