Raytheon GaN chips approved For Space
Raytheon has successfully validated its GaN Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology for use in space-bound equipment.
Raytheon GaN MMICs, fabricated at its Andover, Massachusetts foundry, demonstrated the radiation hardness required for space through Single Event Burn-out (SEB) and Total Ionising Dose (TID) testing. The results showed the devices are not susceptible to catastrophic failure caused by heavy ions.
Further testing showed no loss of performance at exposure levels up to 1Mrad, significantly more than is needed for typical space applications.
"Raytheon's GaN technology is mature, robust, and already integrated into a number of defense systems for land, sea and air," said Paul Ferraro, Raytheon's vice president of Integrated Defense Systems' Advanced Technologies Programs. "Now that our GaN is validated for space, Raytheon customers can use this game-changing technology in a wide variety of space-based applications."
