Semiconductor Progress

Atomera claims breakthrough in silicon technology

Atomera Incorporated, a semiconductor materials and technology licensing company, today announced a new approach to GaN-on-Silicon that addresses a key performance barrier limiting its use in mainstream RF applications. Today, high-performance RF GaN devices are typically built on silicon carbide substrates, which provide excellent performance but remain costly and difficult to scale.

Silicon offers a lower-cost, more scalable foundation with the potential to support larger wafer sizes and greater compatibility with standard silicon manufacturing; however, GaN-on-Silicon has historically underperformed in RF applications due to parasitic channel losses that reduce efficiency, especially at high frequencies.

Atomera’s MST technology reduces these losses, helping close the performance gap, and offers exceptional linearity, enabling lower-cost GaN solutions for 5G, future 6G, and other high-frequency RF devices.

Atomera’s approach, MST, introduces a thin, oxygen-modified layer near the surface of the silicon wafer, creating a more favorable platform for GaN growth and making silicon a more viable foundation for high-performance RF devices. This controlled layer modifies the silicon lattice structure and helps block the diffusion of electrical dopants, improving crystal quality at the GaN/silicon interface.