Atomera Has Signed a Joint Development Agreement With IQE to Bring High-Performance, Cost-Effective RF GaN-on-Silicon to Volume Markets

The partners plan to develop wafer samples for customer engagement through a multi-cycle engineering process.

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Atomera and IQE will co-optimize MST-enabled GaN-on-Silicon wafers, which IQE will manufacture for foundry and IDM customers

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Atomera, a semiconductor transistor materials and technology licensing company, today announced it has entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with IQE plc, the leading global supplier of compound semiconductor wafer products and advanced material solutions, to bring high-performance, cost-effective RF GaN to market. The collaboration leverages Atomera’s recently announced application of Mears Silicon Technology™ (MST^®) to silicon substrates for RF GaN and IQE’s compound semiconductor epitaxy expertise. Under the agreement, the companies will collaborate to demonstrate GaN epitaxy on Atomera’s MST-enabled silicon wafers. With an initial focus on RF GaN-on-silicon applications, the work aims to demonstrate best-in-class linearity and loss for high-volume RF markets.

“IQE has built its business on delivering compound semiconductor epitaxy that meets the industry’s highest performance bar, and this collaboration with Atomera is a natural extension of that work,” said Dr. Rodney Pelzel, chief strategy and technology officer at IQE. “We are pleased to partner with Atomera on MST for GaN-on-silicon. The technology has the potential to provide a cost-effective substrate that is able to achieve the performance required by the market.”

Atomera and IQE anticipate a multi-cycle development process, with engineering teams from both companies working together to optimize the multi-layer structure to identify the highest-performing RF material. The JDA also leaves room for the companies to expand their work, both to further refine RF GaN and to pursue other GaN use cases, including power electronics.

The project will center on the production and testing of MST-enabled GaN-on-silicon wafers, with the goal of rapidly developing the best achievable MST-enabled GaN-on-silicon material and making samples available for foundry, IDM and fabless customer engagement.

“GaN has become critical to RF and power applications, but bringing high-performance GaN to volume production at a cost that works for mainstream markets remains a real challenge. This collaboration with IQE lets us apply MST’s performance advantages to that space with a partner who brings deep compound semiconductor expertise. IQE is more than a development partner for MST. They are a catalyst to accelerate MST GaN-on-silicon time to market and could become an influential manufacturer of MST-enabled wafers,” said Scott Bibaud, president and CEO of Atomera.

MST is a quantum-engineered epitaxial silicon material that enhances transistors to deliver significantly better performance in semiconductor devices while shrinking die sizes and reducing cost. When applied to GaN epitaxy, it enables improved RF GaN performance on silicon substrates.

Atomera’s patented material technology is designed to enable more efficient, better-controlled current flow, supporting improvements in device performance and power efficiency across a wide range of applications.

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About Atomera

Atomera Incorporated (NASDAQ: ATOM) is a semiconductor transistor materials and technology licensing company focused on deploying its proprietary performance-enhancing technology into the semiconductor industry. Atomera has developed Mears Silicon Technology™, or MST^®, a quantum-engineered thin-film technology that increases performance and power efficiency in semiconductor transistors. MST can be implemented using equipment already deployed in semiconductor manufacturing facilities and is complementary to other nano-scaling technologies in the semiconductor industry roadmap. More information can be found at www.atomera.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261022445442/en/

Media Contact
Taylor Yamada, The Hoffman Agency on behalf of Atomera
tyamada@hoffman.com

Source: Atomera Incorporated

Key Terms

gan-on-silicon technical

GaN-on-silicon is a semiconductor technology that places gallium nitride (a material that conducts electricity more efficiently at high voltages and speeds) onto a standard silicon wafer used in chipmaking. For investors, it matters because it can deliver smaller, faster and more energy-efficient power and radio-frequency components while leveraging existing, lower-cost silicon manufacturing, potentially boosting product performance, reducing production costs, and opening new markets for electronics and electric vehicles.

epitaxy technical

Epitaxy is a manufacturing technique where a new, highly ordered crystalline layer is grown directly on top of an existing crystal so the atoms align with the underlying structure. It matters to investors because the quality and consistency of these layers determine the performance, yield and cost of semiconductors, LEDs and sensors; think of it as laying perfectly matched bricks so a device works faster, lasts longer and is cheaper to produce.

rf technical

rf (commonly written r_f) denotes the risk-free rate — the theoretical return on an investment with no chance of loss, often used as a baseline for valuing other assets. Investors use it like a yardstick: returns above this number compensate for extra risk, so it helps price stocks, bonds and option valuations and guides decisions about whether higher-return opportunities justify their added risk. Think of it as the safe deposit box interest rate against which riskier bets are measured.

fabless technical

A fabless company designs and sells semiconductor chips but does not own the factories that make them; instead it hires specialized manufacturers to produce the physical chips. Like a clothing designer who sketches garments and contracts a factory to sew them, this model keeps upfront equipment costs low but exposes the business to manufacturing availability, lead times and partner pricing—factors investors watch because they affect cash needs, margins and supply-chain risk.