Satellites may soon carry Raytheon's Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology into Earth orbit. Raytheon announced that they have successfully validated their GaN Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology for use in space-bound equipment. Raytheon GaN MMICs, fabricated at its Andover, Massachusetts foundry, demonstrated the radiation hardness required for space through Single Event Burn-out (SEB) and Total Ionizing Dose (TID) testing. The results showed the devices are not susceptible to catastrophic failure caused by heavy ions. Further testing showed no loss of performance at exposure levels up to 1Mrad, significantly more than is needed for typical space applications.
GaN-based components are more than five times more powerful than semiconductors presently used in radars and other types of sensors resulting in lighter, more capable electronics. Raytheon customers can now use this technology in a wide variety of space-based applications.
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