RFMD has signed a $9.7 million agreement with the Manufacturing and Industrial Technologies Directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to transfer and produce a 0.14 micron Gallium Nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. The technology will be scaled to 6-inch diameter wafers using RFMD's industry-leading 6-inch GaN-on-Silicon Carbide (SiC) manufacturing line.
According to RFMD this will be the industry's first 6-inch millimeter wave GaN-on-SiC process technology. This new technologies capabilities will extend beyond 100 GHz and will not only enable a new class of affordable power MMICs for defense applications such as radar and military communications, but also commercial applications including cable TV networking, microwave backhaul and cellular infrastructure.
According to industry analyst firm Strategy Analytics, the GaN microelectronics market is expected to more than triple to $334 million by 2017, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28%. This market growth is led by growth in both military (radar, electronic warfare, communications) and commercial (power management, cellular, CATV, land mobile radios) applications.
GaN technology supports broad frequency bandwidths and high breakdown voltages in a small area. RFMD's 6-inch GaN wafer offers 2.5-times more useable area over competing 4-inch GaN wafer platforms currently available, resulting in 2.5 times more RF power devices per wafer. Millimeter wave GaN enables the best trade-off between key performance parameters such as power gain, bandwidth and efficiency for applications in the range of DC to over 100 GHz.
See GaN Amplifiers from RFMD on everything RF.
