8 June 2011

TriQuint reports GaN development milestones at IMS 2011

At this week’s IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2011) in Baltimore, MD, USA (5–10 June), TriQuint Semiconductor Inc has announced several milestones related to its ongoing gallium nitride (GaN) developments. The firm says that, together with customers and various US Government agencies, it is working to define the future of RF, where it believes GaN will play a key role.

“We have standard products available today and continue to enhance the reliability, manufacturability and performance of our GaN process technology,” says vice president Thomas Cordner. “We intend to set a high bar for what customers should expect of GaN technology, customer service and semiconductor material experience,” he adds.

Together with researchers from the University of Notre Dame, TriQuint has put its GaN NEXT Process (which is being developed with funds from DARPA and is not yet commercially available) through stringent performance tests. The results — presented in the paper ‘State-of-the-Art E/D GaN Technology Based on an InAlN/AlN/GaN Heterostructure’ by Saunier et al at the 36th Annual GOMACTech Conference in Orlando, FL, USA in late March — demonstrated a threshold frequency (fT) of more than 240GHz, which is twice that of the record of 120GHz claimed recently by University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). The paper also details enhancement/depletion integration with record DC and RF performances. 

TriQuint’s commercial GaN foundry offering is now available on 100mm wafers in limited release, for well-qualified customers with available resources prior to becoming a Full Release process. The latter will include the full complement of associated models, tools and support traditionally offered to customers.

TriQuint’s GaN process technology has also been certified as a US Department of Defense Category 1A ‘Trusted Foundry’, ensuring that it meets stringent product control and secure handling standards during all stages of circuit fabrication. Accreditation also creates an avenue for increased high-security monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) business, reckons the firm.

Also, TriQuint has released several standard products based on its GaN process, including:

• The T1G4005528-FS is a discrete RF power transistor operating from DC to 3.5GHz, suiting military and civilian radar, professional and military radio communications systems, test instrumentation, avionics, and wideband or narrowband amplifiers.

• The T1G6001528-Q3 is a packaged GaN discrete RF power transistor offering substantial wideband coverage, high power-added efficiency (PAE), gain and more than 18W of output power, and greater than 50% efficiency across a wide bandwidth (DC–6GHz). The device can be used in professional and military radio communication systems, jammers, military and civilian radar, test instrumentation, avionics and wideband or narrowband amplifiers.

• The TGA2576 is a power amplifier that delivers 30W of saturated output power in the 2.5–6GHz range and typically offers 30% PAE and 25dBm of small-signal gain. It is well suited to counter-IED (C-IED) and other EW (electronic weapons) systems.

TriQuint is also working on several ongoing research contracts with government agencies to further its development of GaN for broad commercial use:

• Defense Production Act Title III – announced in November 2010 and granted by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), this $17.5m multi-year contract is designed to develop manufacturing that increases yield, lowers costs and improves time-to-market cycles for defense and commercial GaN integrated circuits;

• Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) contract – awarded by AFRL, this program will develop new GaN modules for UAVs to extend the range and capabilities of drone aircraft used for reconnaissance missions over Afghanistan, Iraq and other regions.

• DARPA 'NEXT' – announced in October 2009 and awarded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), this $16.2m multi-year contract funds the development of complex, high-dynamic-range circuits for future defense and aerospace applications.

Tags: TriQuint GaN GaN RF power devices

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