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Indium Phosphide - Future

Does anyone have any options on the future for indium phosphide as a substrate material? When/where does it make sense to use InP vs other materials.

I have been hearing a lot about the growth in the optical sector particularly new modulator designs that use InP rather than lithium niobate.

What other future applications should use more InP? (5G, ADAS, )

Thank you.
 
InP is a specialty substrate and the company Wafer Technology in the UK only supplies 2" wafers, so this is just another exotic III-V material offering a choice other than the mainstream Silicon wafers. The Wikipedia page talks about high-power and high-frequency applications like optoelectronics and laser diodes.
 
I know 4" InP wafers exist though most people work with 2" or 3". The size of a InP wafer is mainly limited by its physical properties namely its high brittleness (more than GaAs, not to mention compared with Si) and chemical instability. For fiber optics applications, there currently is no other choice than InP to make long wave (1.3~1.6um) lasers and some other devices. Despite the fast growing high speed optical chips demanded by datacenters, the total wafer starts are still insignificant by IC standard due to its small chip size as discrete devices.
 
Thank you for the information. That is helpful. What is the going price for a polished 3" or 4" InP wafer? Who are the main bulk suppliers?
 
I believe 2" and 3" InP wafers are around or below $100 at small volume and I have no info for 4" ones. If you look for a small quantity, you can find a couple of wafer brokers with a google search.
 
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