News

7 October 2010

 

RFMD releases high-efficiency 140W GaN RF transistor for volume production

RF Micro Devices Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA has qualified and production released the RF3934, a 140W highly efficient gallium nitride (GaN) RF unmatched power transistor (UPT) with what is claimed to be superior performance versus competing gallium arsenide (GaAs) and silicon power technologies. The RF3934 is currently available for sampling and mass production.

The firm says that its unmatched power transistors support ‘green’ architectures that reduce energy consumption, improving thermal management and network efficiency for network operators. The RF3934 operates over a broad frequency range (DC to 3GHz) in a single amplifier design. The high peak efficiency of more than 65% minimizes thermal management demand and improves overall power consumption requirements for end customers. Also, ease of design implementation and integration is enhanced through the incorporation of simple, optimized matching networks external to the package, providing wideband gain and power performance advantages in a single amplifier. The RF3934 is packaged in a hermetic, flanged ceramic two-leaded package that leverages RFMD’s heat sink and power dissipation technologies to deliver what it claimed to be excellent thermal stability and conductivity.

“The release of the RF3934 is an important milestone because it is the highest-output power device in our UPT family,” says Jeff Shealy, VP & general manager of RFMD’s Defense and Power business unit. “Furthermore, it is a key building block for our upcoming matched power transistor family, scheduled to be released later this fiscal year,” he adds.

“Our GaN products offer the added benefit of being produced in the same high-volume manufacturing environment as our RFMD cellular products, which translates into industry-leading manufacturing cycle times,” claims Bob Van Buskirk, president of RFMD's Multi-Market Products Group. “We further leverage our internal, high-power packaging facility, with military and government security clearances, to enable flexible assembly & test strategies and short learning cycles to support important aerospace and defense programs.”

The RF3934 is designed in RFMD's 48V high-power-density GaN process — featuring a unique combination of high RF power density and efficiency, low capacitance and high thermal conductivity. Such features enable the development of compact and efficient high power amplifiers (HPAs) for a broad range of applications, including public mobile radio (PMR), 3G/4G wireless infrastructure, ISM (industrial scientific & medical), military and civilian radar and CATV transmission networks.

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