Date: 06/05/2012

$12.3M GaN DARPA contract to Triquint to develop GaN semiconductor devices

TriQuint Semiconductor has announced that it has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to lead a $12.3 million development program focused on ultra-fast gallium nitride (GaN) switch technology for the Microscale Power Conversion (MPC) program.

GaN based RF devices take less space compared to present solutions. GaN based DC-DC converters are faster and smaller compared to Silicon based devices.

"The break-through performance demonstrated in 'NEXT' has helped us develop new devices, like our GaN power switches, that will open up additional radar and communications applications. We can substantially improve performance in these types of systems," said TriQuint Vice President and General Manager for Defense Products and Foundry Services, James L. Klein. "This work is also leading to lower voltage GaN-based products. We see many exciting opportunities to develop more advanced RF amplifiers with integrated power switches."

Triquint Semiconductor to design GaN switching device with a blocking voltage of 200 volts, ultra-low dynamic on resistance of 1 ohm-mm and a slew rate of 500 volts per nanosecond. RF amplifiers employing these switches to target 75% system efficiency at X-band (8-12 GHz).