20 September 2013

GaN to push microwave RF power semiconductor market to $250m by 2018

Spending on microwave RF power semiconductors has been kick-started by the availability of new gallium nitride (GaN) devices for 4-18GHz, says market intelligence firm ABI Research in its new report ‘Microwave RF Power Semiconductors’ (part of the firm’s High-Power RF Active Devices Research Service). Point-to-point communications, SATCOM, radars of all types and new industrial/medical applications will all benefit from the introduction of these high-power GaN devices, the firm adds.

“While gallium arsenide devices are presently the backbone of microwave RF power, it is gallium nitride that will drive growth going forward,” says research director Lance Wilson. “GaN can operate at much higher voltages and at power levels that were difficult or impossible to reach using GaAs.”

In addition to the above-mentioned application segments, microwave GaN is finally reaching the performance points that can start to seriously challenge travelling-wave tube applications for new designs that have historically used the latter, notes ABI.

The report examines microwave RF power semiconductor devices that have power outputs of greater than 3W and operate at frequencies of 4-18GHz. The new report is part of ABI Research’s ongoing effort to track the major changes in the RF power industry. With the current release, analysis of the six main vertical segments (C-band GaAs, C-band GaN, X-band GaAs, X-band GaN, Ku-band GaAs, and Ku-band GaN) is further expanded to 28 application sub-segments.

Tags: ABI RF power semiconductors GaN

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