27 January 2011

IQE supporting TriQuint in US contract for GaN-based materials

Epiwafer foundry and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK says that its manufacturing facility in Somerset, NJ, USA will support TriQuint Semiconductor Inc of Hillsboro, OR, USA (which provides RF solutions and foundry services for communications, defense and aerospace firms) with a range of GaN-based wafer products following its recent award of a US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract.

TriQuint has been awarded the Defense Production Act Title III gallium nitride (GaN) manufacturing development contract, the overall goal of which is to increase yields, lower costs of high-power, high-frequency 100mm GaN wafers, and improve time-to-market cycles for defense and commercial GaN integrated circuits.

IQE says that GaN is a key process technology that is leading advanced semiconductor amplifier design for high-end radio-frequency communications applications. The material system has inherent advantages over other technologies including high-voltage operation, greater power density (more power per square millimeter) and efficiency. The on-going development of GaN-based devices is leading to new smaller, more efficient amplifiers aimed at reducing system size, weight and power consumption.

“IQE is proud of its close working relationship with TriQuint Semiconductor in supplying reliable, high-quality products, ranging from high-volume GaAs-based RF materials to emerging technologies such as 100mm GaN epitaxial wafers,” says Alex Ceruzzi, VP & general manager of IQE’s New Jersey facility. IQE has closely supported TriQuint with a number of products including GaN for many years. “We appreciate TriQuint’s continued commitment in selecting IQE to support this key program,” he adds.

The program is expected to conclude in 2013 and is divided into three phases with specific goals and assessment criteria at each milestone. The overall aim of the new contract is to demonstrate integrated device technology that meets stringent goals in terms of performance, cost and capacity. While the initial work will be designed for defense applications, it is anticipated that the technologies will eventually migrate to future generations of consumer and communications devices.

See: IQE Company Profile

Tags: IQE TriQuint GaN

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