Polar has signed a manufacturing collaboration with IC-Link by imec to produce gallium-nitride (GaN) technology on 8-inch (200 mm) wafers, moving the wide-bandgap material onto the wafer size that dominates mainstream power semiconductor economics.

The partnership, announced via Business Wire, pairs a GaN device developer with one of Europe's most established research-to-fab conduits. IC-Link by imec is the industrial affiliation program of the Leuven, Belgium-based nanoelectronics research center, offering companies access to imec's pilot-line manufacturing capabilities without building their own fabs. For Polar, the arrangement converts GaN process development into a manufacturable 8-inch flow.

Why does 8-inch matter for GaN?

GaN power devices have historically run on 6-inch (150 mm) substrates, and a substantial share of industry volume still does. The step to 8-inch nearly doubles the usable silicon area per wafer — roughly 1.8 times the die output per processed wafer compared with 150 mm — and aligns GaN production with the wafer size standard for silicon power MOSFETs and, increasingly, for silicon carbide.

That alignment matters commercially. Packaging suppliers, test houses and contract assemblers built their infrastructure around 200 mm economics. A GaN device company that can run on 8-inch gains access to that mature supply chain and spreads fixed wafer costs across more die, which is the core requirement for GaN to compete directly with silicon in cost-sensitive power applications such as chargers, adapters, data-center power supplies and onboard automotive converters.

Running GaN on 8-inch is not trivial from a process standpoint. GaN layers are grown epitaxially on silicon substrates, and the lattice and thermal-expansion mismatch between the materials grows harder to manage as wafer diameter increases. Wafer bow, cracking and yield uniformity are the classic failure modes that 200 mm GaN programs must engineer around. This is precisely the class of problem imec has worked on for years through its GaN-on-Si research lines, and it is the technical rationale for a device maker pairing with the research institute's manufacturing arm rather than attempting the scale-up alone.

What does the collaboration cover?

The announcement centers on manufacturing 8-inch GaN technology through IC-Link by imec. The structure gives Polar a path from development into pilot production on imec's infrastructure — the standard IC-Link model, in which member companies access the institute's cleanroom capacity, process modules and engineering support under an affiliation agreement, without constructing dedicated GaN capacity of their own.

For imec, the deal extends a role it has played across the European semiconductor ecosystem: serving as the manufacturing bridge for companies too small to justify a fab, or too early to commit capital to one. GaN power is one of the institute's active wide-bandgap tracks, alongside its silicon photonics and advanced CMOS programs.

What is the competitive context?

GaN power semiconductors sit in a market shaped by several parallel 8-inch efforts. Power device makers and foundries in Europe, Asia and the United States have been migrating GaN from 150 mm toward 200 mm to close the cost gap with silicon, and access to qualified 8-inch pilot capacity has become a gating factor for smaller players without captive fabs.

A partnership with an established research institute's manufacturing arm offers one route. The alternative routes — building dedicated capacity or contracting with a commercial GaN foundry — carry higher capital commitments or queue risk, respectively. For a company at Polar's stage, the IC-Link route trades capital intensity for process access, while keeping the option open to transfer the qualified flow to a high-volume manufacturing partner later.

What comes next?

The collaboration positions Polar to develop and manufacture its GaN technology on 8-inch wafers through imec's IC-Link program; the pace at which that flow reaches qualified production volumes will determine whether the 200 mm economics translate into competitive GaN pricing against incumbent silicon and silicon carbide alternatives.