Qorvo has received a four-year contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop and implement a physics-based, unified GaN modeling framework to accelerate the design of GaN devices. GaN’s superior power density and ability to deliver higher output power and efficiency – including at millimeter wave frequencies – make it the semiconductor technology of choice for radar, electronic warfare and communication systems for defense and commercial applications.
Qorvo is a leading supplier of GaN devices to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and will lead a group of industry and university organizations to create a single tool that unifies physics modeling and device modeling to provide powerful predictive capabilities. The tool will allow circuit designers to make performance and reliability trade-offs at the design stage, which is not currently possible. This new capability will significantly reduce the number of design-build-test iterations, enhance reliability, and achieve reductions in cost and delivery times for capabilities critical to the Air Force, DoD and commercial industries.
As the prime contractor on the Engineering Predictable Behavior into GaN Devices Foundational Engineering Problem (FEP) contract, Qorvo will head a team that includes Modelithics Inc., the University of Padua, NI AWR, HRL and the University of Colorado-Boulder. Delivery of the final, unified modeling framework is expected sometime in 2022.
