MACOM has announced the first three, volume production orders for GaN on Si devices. The orders are for 50 to 270 W devices that operate in the 2.4 and 3.5 GHz cellular bands. GaN on Si technology was developed by MACOM as an alternative to LDMOS and GaN on SiC for a number of applications.
After purchasing Nitronex to acquire GaN on Si technology, MACOM worked hard to displace LDMOS used in base station power amplifiers. They then invested largely in device, process development and qualification. MACOM even had to sue Infineon to defend their IP for this technology.
However, the main development in the build-up to enable volume orders of GaN on Si devices was the high volume manufacturing partnership with STMicroelectronics that required developing a CMOS-compatible version of the process. This opened the door to executive level sponsorship within two of the top three OEMs in Europe and Asia.
MACOM and ST now have developed the first GaN supply chain that can actually operate with the same scale, capacity, and surge capacity as LDMOS.
Click here to read about the advantages of GaN on Si over competing technologies.
