Public Funding for Kubos Semiconductors Ltd

Longer wavelength visible MicroLEDs (green, amber and red) fabricated in cubic GaN look set to deliver significant efficiency advantages over their conventional counterparts produced in the hexagonal crystalline form of the material, an issue that has been preventing take off for the Augmented and/or Virtual Reality (AR/VR) headset market for several years now. With this roadblock removed, the AR/VR display market is primed for explosive growth. Kubos Semiconductors has developed and is commercialising technology for producing these devices. A critical enabler for the production of cubic GaN is the substrate on which the material is grown which comprises a thin layer of high quality, cubic silicon carbide (3c-SiC) epitaxy deposited on a standard silicon wafer. In common with all semiconductor manufacturing, maximising the diameter of wafer employed is desirable to optimise cost. No domestic source of these substrates currently exists and Kubos is forced to import them from overseas. This project is aimed at establishing an onshore supply chain capable of delivering these critical 3c-SiC on silicon substrates at a quality equivalent to that currently being imported. Innovative processes will be evaluated to improve both product quality and the efficiency and cost of manufacture and demonstrate the principle that this supply chain can be used as a foundation for scaling to high volume 200mm wafer diameter. Led by Kubos Semiconductors which will qualify the substrates for its standard cubic GaN epitaxy and fabricate LEDs, Advanced Epi will develop suitable 3c-SiC epitaxy production processes, Wafer Technology will develop a chemo-mechanical polish (CMP) process to achieve sub-nm roughness and planarization on cubic SiC and Oxford Instruments will develop a plasma process to prepare the grown SiC surface prior to cubic GaN epitaxy. The project will include extensive materials and device characterisation and is targeting a 200mm diameter wafer capability.

Micro-LED HAPS aims to demonstrate an innovative optical communications system designed for deployment on high-altitude pseudo satellites (HAPS). Our approach exploits the unique capabilities of micro light-emitting diode (micro-LED) sources paired with single photon detectors. The compact nature of these integrated optical components and their low power consumption, make them well suited for the development of transceiver modules compatible with the tight size, weight, and power constraints of HAPS. Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (Fh-CAP), shall lead the project, which builds upon the world-leading expertise of the Institute of Photonics at the University of Strathclyde (IOP), who have pioneered the development of micro-LEDs over two decades. Together with TAO Tech UK, Wideblue, A2E, and Kubos Semiconductor, they will advance the commercialisation of these devices, for the increasingly important optical communications market. The main objective for the project will be to demonstrate an optical communications link in a representative environment to de-risk future high altitude testing. The innovation here is the use of bespoke micro-LED arrays paired with single-photon detectors to enable low power and lightweight data links to be demonstrated. These data links can provide the vital command and control signals between HAPS platforms and between HAPS to the ground. By thus expanding the communications capabilities of HAPS, we will enhance their utility for rapid deployment in various scenarios, such as Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) or Maritime Security missions, and more generally providing communications in remote locations poorly served by fixed infrastructure.

Kubos Semiconductors is developing an exciting new material technology that is poised to revolutionise light emitting diodes (LEDs). Originally spun out of the University of Cambridge and based on the cubic crystalline form of Gallium Nitride (GaN), this unique and patented material successfully addresses the "green gap", a problem with inefficient green LEDs that the industry has wrestled with at huge expense and to little effect for the last decade. In addition, this technology could also be a game-changer for microLEDs for full colour displays. Cubic GaN has never been manufactured on standard manufacturing equipment in a commercial environment and Kubos holds the unique IP that makes this ground-breaking technological development possible. The aim of this project is to scale the production from our current development to full 150mm diameter wafers. These wafer sizes are required for customers to process into LEDs on their standard production lines. Over the past 4 years Kubos has developed this technology, cubic-GaN, which removes the roadblocks to delivering efficient green LEDs and will therefore enable the next generation in lighting and display. Estimates suggest Kubos' technology could save up to 577mtCO2e in lighting alone (over a 5-year period) and reduce electricity costs for consumers, by approximately 20-40% over existing solid-state lighting.