20 October 2026

The Scientific Research Institute of Instruments (NIIP), a subsidiary of the Rosatom state corporation, has failed to develop a technology for producing 150mm-diameter silicon wafers, Cnews has discovered . According to a December 2024 contract with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, NIIP was supposed to learn how to manufacture and launch pilot production of ingots and polished wafers of neutron-transmutation-doped monocrystalline silicon by the end of 2026. This material is of strategic importance and  is not produced in Russia, so the development was intended to replace foreign equivalents, according to the technical specifications.

Since NIIP hadn’t even completed the first stage of the work, which expired in May, the Ministry of Industry and Trade terminated the institute’s contract in October and fined it 1.5 million rubles (the total contract value was 400 million). According to Cnews, the materials being developed were intended to meet the needs of domestic microelectronics manufacturers for the production of “import-independent” domestic power thyristors, transistors, and other components required for rail and automobile electric transport, as well as charging infrastructure. These power components, which contain radiation-doped silicon, are also widely used in the defense and space industries.

The 150mm-diameter wafers are the basis for high-power devices, confirms Sofia Komissarova, a senior analyst at the Center for Strategic Support of Domestic Technologies. “Neutron doping ensures a very even distribution of the impurity throughout the entire ingot. For a high-voltage device, this determines whether it will withstand the voltage or break down,” she explained.

In total, NIIP was required to prepare design data for the production of at least 100,000 silicon wafers per year, the cost of which was not to exceed the average market price of similar materials by more than 10-15%. According to Oleksandr Timoshenko, head of Troichnye Tekhnologii, the project was critical for power electronics. Due to its closure, the development of production of such materials in Russia has been postponed until 2028 and beyond.

https://ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/20/-46-a209114