High-tech end uses anticipate growth in demand for gallium

From computer chips to compact disk players, from solar cells in satellites to the phased-array radar systems which operated during the Persian Gulf War, gallium plays a key role in many areas of today’s technology. A recent report from market analyst Roskill of London, Gallium 1990, provides an analysis of the gallium industry and its outlook for the 1990s.

An important field of development for gallium has been the semi-conductor industry. For many years it was anticipated that gallium, used in the production of gallium arsenide, would create a revolution in the computer market.

Owing to its ability to carry electrons five or six times faster than silicon, gallium arsenide was expected to replace silicon in computer chips. But technical and financial difficulties caused major setbacks to its widespread adoption. The report says these expectations are at last being fulfilled. Roskill points out that late last year, the U.S. company Vitesse Semiconductor announced the development of digital gallium arsenide computer chips with up to a million transistors, which will allow gallium arsenide to compete with the fastest silicon-based integrated circuits.

Other developers of gallium arsenide integrated circuits in the U.S. are now marketing devices which can directly replace silicon-based products, and the spread of gallium arsenide from military, space and super computing niches to general computer markets is accelerating.

The report says that another end use for gallium has attracted particular interest in recent years.

Gallium arsenide is established as a material for high-performance photovoltaic cells used in satellites and other space applications, but its high cost has hitherto excluded use on earth except in special circumstances. However, it remains one of the main focuses of current research into the development of systems for the large scale generation of power from solar energy.

Although amorphous silicon cells are more likely to be used for this purpose in the long term, the report says that significant quantities of gallium will continue to be required for this research for the next few years. The high speed and radiation resistance of gallium arsenide integrated circuits offer significant military advantages in radar, communications and electronic warfare. Gallium arsenide analogue integrated circuits allow the size of array components in phased-array radar systems to be considerably reduced while also improving signal-to-noise ratios.