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Nitronex issued patent, demos 120 W GaN device

Nitronex has collaborated with Rockwell Collins to demonstrate a 120 W GaN transistor, and has also been awarded a US patent relating to the growth of GaN on silicon.
Nitronex, a manufacturer of GaN-based RF power transistors, has been issued US patent no. 6,617,060 entitled “Gallium Nitride Material and Methods”.

The patent relates to process technology used for growing GaN semiconductor layers on silicon substrates and includes Nitronex s Sigantic core platform technology.

Kevin Linthicum, Nitronex s CTO, claimed that the patent differentiates Nitronex from other companies that are commercializing GaN semiconductors.

"This is a valuable addition to Nitronex s portfolio and is of strategic importance as it captures very broad protection for depositing device-quality GaN on industry-standard silicon wafers."

120 W power device

Nitronex has also teamed with aviation electronics manufacturer Rockwell Collins to demonstrate a single-unit GaN transistor yielding a record-breaking output power of 120 Watts.

Nitronex fabricated the GaN HEMT device using its baseline process developed for 3G-WCDMA market applications, while Rockwell Collins packaged and tested the device at their Cedar Rapids facility. Nitronex s technology is being evaluated by Rockwell for a variety of pulsed power applications.

The latest results were from a 39-mm gate width device pulse tested (pulse width of 11.4 microseconds at 5% duty cycle) at 2 GHz and 28 Volts. At 2.0 dB into compression the device exhibited a gain of 11.3 dB with an efficiency of over 39%.

The results indicate that GaN has great potential to play a major role in future RF power amplifier systems, and not just for wireless basestation applications where Nitronex has been targeting its products so far.

Don Landt of Rockwell Collins Advanced Technology Center stated, "We have many applications at Rockwell Collins for these devices especially in our government systems programs, such as Data Link 16 programs, weapons data links, Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS), and flight navigation. High-performance cost effective GaN RF devices are essential for these systems."

Linthicum added, "This level of performance and positive feedback from Rockwell echoes similar responses we have received from customers evaluating our technology for use in wideband 3G commercial applications where linear power and efficiency are of utmost importance."

The work was funded in part by the Office of Naval Research under a Phase II STTR contract.

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