Cree awarded $26 million to develop SiC MMICs
The program builds on Cree’s SiC MMIC development and is designed to improve manufacturability of SiC materials, both for substrates and epitaxy, in addition to advancing cleanroom processing technology. Work will be specifically directed to yield enhancement and cost reduction for MMICs fabricated on 3-inch diameter wafers. The cleanroom fabrication work will include the development of automated wafer handling systems for the larger diameter wafers, as well as the implementation of statistical process control for these new processes.
As part of Cree’s existing Title III contract with AFRL, the project adds $3.2 million through a contract modification for additional tasks designed to improve yields of 3-inch diameter semi-insulating SiC substrates. The remaining $23.3 million will be provided through a new contract with ONR. The program is incrementally funded, with funding in future government fiscal years subject to appropriation and allocation of the contracted amounts.
"Cree was the first, and remains the only, company that has produced power MMICs in SiC, with performance that exceeds what is available in other more established MMIC technologies," said John Palmour, director of Advanced Devices at Cree. "We are excited to move this technology forward from the R&D stage into a manufacturing environment."
"These new contract awards represent the largest government contract in the company’s history, and underlines the importance of SiC for high power microwave devices," commented Chuck Swoboda, Cree’s president and CEO.
Swoboda believes that this program should not only help drive down the eventual cost of SiC MMICs for defense applications, but will also help to significantly reduce the cost of SiC MESFET discrete products and future GaN HEMT product offerings from Cree Microwave for commercial applications such as cellular infrastructure. "We anticipate that all of these products will use the same 3-inch semi-insulating substrate platform and automated three inch fabrication facility, leveraging the volume of both military and commercial applications," he added.
