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Kopin ramps dilute-nitride HBT epiwafers

Epiwafer supplier Kopin has begun volume production of HBT material based on its advanced GaAsInN structure.

Key HBT epiwafer supplier Kopin says that it has begun volume production of GaAsInN (GAIN) material destined to be used in cell-phone handset power amplifiers (PAs).

The company, which has worked on the development of the advanced technology with PA supplier Skyworks Solutions, expects "tens of millions" of faster PAs to be manufactured using the GAIN-HBT epiwafers with just the initial design-ins.

"The addition of indium and nitrogen reduces the bandgap energy for low-voltage operation, and the gradually varying composition creates an internal electric field for higher speed operation," explained Roger Welser, who has led the development of the new material. The key GAIN epilayer is 50 nm thick (see related story).

In addition, says Welser, the greater bandgap difference between the GAIN-HBT emitter and base layer (compared with conventional InGaP HBTs) improves PA reliability.

Other advantages over InGaP include a base layer that allows good PA performance across a wider temperature range, and "potentially higher power efficiency".

Thanks to the close collaboration with Skyworks, the GAIN material can simply be dropped into the wafer processing line in place of the InGaP wafers previously used.

Kopin revealed the production ramp at the IEEE Topical Workshop in Power Amplifiers for Wireless Communication, which is being held in San Diego, CA, this week.

At the same event, Skyworks said it was ramping production of a CMOS switch that it believes to be better than competing GaAs-based products for satellite receiver applications. Meanwhile, Freescale announced that it had developed a power amplifier for 3.5 GHz WiMAX applications that is based on silicon LDMOS technology.

Freescale's power transistor, said to be the first LDMOS device to meet the stringent requirements for WiMAX base stations, could prove to be a tough competitor to GaAs- and GaN-based alternatives.

However, Freescale says that it will continue to develop high-voltage GaAs PHEMTs for use in WiMAX systems and other applications.

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