The CS substrate market is strongly driven by power and photonics applications and will be worth close to US$2.4 billion by 2027 with a 16 percent CAGR. CS has been adopted in various applications over the past decades; recently, however, SiC and GaN in power, GaN and GaAs in RF, GaAs and InP in Photonics and LED and µLED in display, have all gained momentum. As a result, the substrate and epiwafer markets are also expected to grow.

In this context, Yole Intelligence has developed a new dedicated report to provide context for the CS markets in RF, power, photonics and display applications, including forecasts. In its new Status of Compound Semiconductors Industry 2022 report, the company, part of Yole Group, delivers an in-depth understanding of the industry and technology trends for CS substrates such as SiC, GaAs and InP, as well as the emerging substrates such as gallium oxide, bulk GaN, aluminum nitride, diamond etc. This study also reviews in detail the complete CS ecosystem.

Substrate companies are entering the next level of the supply chain… They are offering epiwafers or devices when the “substrate diameter transition” happens.

Poshun Chiu, senior technology and market analyst specializing in compound semiconductors and emerging substrates at Yole Intelligence, part of Yole Group said, “Wolfspeed is the leading SiC substrate and epiwafer supplier for power SiC and RF GaN. As the larger-format substrate is the strategic resource in the next generation of device manufacturing, the opening of 8” wafer fabs and the expansion of material capacity illustrates the ambitious targets aimed at in the coming decade.”

Meanwhile, II-VI closed its acquisition of Coherent and renamed the company, thus illustrating its change of focus. Today, Coherent is the leading photonic device player as well as the leading SiC substrate supplier for power and RF applications. Moreover, it is working with SEDI on RF GaN device manufacturing and has entered the power SiC device business with GE. Both are strengthening their competitiveness from the substrate level to the device level.

AXT, Sumitomo Electric, Freiberger and SICC are the leading suppliers of GaAs, InP and semi-insulating SiC substrates. Their objectives of growing their revenues rely on expanding into other CS materials. Players are looking at the synergy between GaAs and InP substrates for RF, photonic and µLED applications. Also, players from semi-insulating SiC are entering n-type SiC as it is a market with a higher growth rate.

Taha Ayari, Ph.D., technology and market analyst, compound semiconductor and emerging substrates, at Yole Intelligence said, “Epiwafer suppliers benefit from the different dynamics of the CS open epiwafer market. IQE has been involved in various CS markets (for example, RF GaAs and GaN), as the double-digit CAGRs of InP and GaAs photonics represent markets with both volume and scale. And µLED is a booming market, expected to double every year in the coming five years. VPEC has succeeded in becoming the largest supplier of RF GaAs epiwafer in the open market, and the company continues increasing its engagement in photonics for future growth.”