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Motorola Creates Semiconductor III-V Materials

September 04, 2001 by Jeff Shepard

Motorola Inc. (Schaumburg, IL) announced that Motorola Labs scientists are the first to successfully combine the best properties of workhorse silicon technology with the speed and optical capabilities of high-performance compound semiconductors that are known as the III-V materials.

The technology enables very thin layers of III-V semiconductor materials (which include gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, gallium nitride and other high-performance/light-emitting compounds) to be grown on a silicon substrate. Until now, this has been a virtually impossible task due to fundamental material mismatch issues. The idea was originally developed by Motorola Labs' scientist Dr. Jamal Ramdani. Potential markets include automotive electronics, lighting and photovoltaics.

"This is a tremendous achievement by our scientists and one that has the potential, when fully commercialized, to transform the industry in a way that is similar to the transition from discrete semiconductors to integrated circuits," said Dennis Roberson, senior vice president and CTO, Motorola.