EpiGaN will be showcasing the latest enhancements of its GaN epiwafer solutions for RF power applications at the upcoming IMS 2018 event in Philadelphia from 10-15 June. The company will also be highlighting these products at PCIM Europe 2018 (Power Conversion and Intelligent Motion) in Nuremberg, Germany from 5-7 June.
EpiGaN has previously developed 200mm GaN-on-Si 650V epiwafer solutions for power management systems that have entered the mainstream CMOS manufacturing lines of silicon-based integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and foundries. Recently, for 5G applications, it has developed 200mm versions of its HVRF GaN-on-Si as well as 150mm GaN-on-SiC epiwafer solutions. Their RF power products have excellent dynamic behavior, high power densities at mmW ranges and the low RF losses (<0.8 dB/mm up to 110 GHz) for the GaN-on-Si version of its HVRF product family.
EpiGaN says that a key advantage of its GaN-on-Si epiwafer technology is the in-situ silicon nitride (SiN) capping layer. This feature is said to provide superior surface passivation and device reliability, and enables contamination-free processing in existing standard silicon CMOS production infrastructures. Also, in-situ SiN structuring allows the use of pure aluminium nitride (AlN) layers as barrier materials, which results in lower conduction losses and/or the design of smaller-size chips for the same current rating.
For ultimate RF performance in the 5G-related 30 GHz and 40 GHz millimeter-wave bands, EpiGaN has developed high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) heterostructures featuring pure AlN barrier layers in combination with an in-situ SiN capping layer to complement the typical AlGaN counterparts. This allows the transistor’s gate to be located very close to the densely populated channel, maximizing the electrostatic coupling between the two (i.e. improving gate control). This will result in the far superior RF transistor characteristics needed for 5G MMIC developments, says EpiGaN.
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