TUSUR and Micran win the Green Chip Award

The joint entry of TUSUR and Micran was a technology for manufacture of a Gallium Nitride power transistor with copper metallization for new-generation energy-efficient converter equipment.

“TUSUR and Micran were the first in Russia to develop the copper metallization technology. The technology makes it possible to manufacture integrated circuits and transistors using inexpensive materials instead of precious metals that are used today. Copper is a good choice of material for this purpose, but today there is no technology for copper-based transistor manufacture; global manufacturers use only gold and aluminum in their production processes. It is a unique technology,” says Dmitry Zykov, Deputy Director of Nanotechology Research and Education Center at TUSUR University.

Copper has a number of advantages over aluminum and gold: it has higher thermal conductivity and costs very little. The new manufacturing technology will enhance the transistor response time and improve its resistance to radiation and other extreme conditions, while reducing the mass and size of the end-device by 30—50% and its cost, by 50%. Industrial application of this technology is expected to enhance energy-efficiency by up to 20%.

The criteria employed by the judging panel included scientific and engineering novelty, engineering feasibility, level of development, industrial demand for the technology and its potential for further projects.

“Cell phones, tablets, TVs, servers – all these devices are very important for our comfortable living, the necessities of our day life, and that’s why green electronics is so important: green electronics can offer controllable and reduced energy consumption and allow our devices to run on just a fraction of the energy they consume today”, says Paul Heremans, Technology Director at IMEC.