WIN Semiconductors Expands GaN Portfolio
WIN Semiconductors, the Taiwanese compound semiconductor foundry, has expanded its GaN technology portfolio with addition of the NP45 GaN on SiC process.
NP45 is a 0.45µm-gate MMIC technology enabling users to design fully integrated amplifier products as well as custom discrete transistors, and has been optimised for use in 4G macro-cell base station power amplifiers operating at 2.7GHz and above where bandwidth and linearity performance are key differentiators.
The macro-cell base power amplifier market is projected to grow to more than $1B annually by 2020 and GaN technology is expected to become the technology of choice for this application. Owing to its superior efficiency, bandwidth and linearity, GaN devices outperform the incumbent LDMOS technology, particularly in the higher frequency bands used in 4G/4.5G networks.
The WIN NP45 technology is fabricated on 100mm SiC substrates and operates at a drain bias of 50V. In the 2.7GHz band this technology provides saturated output power of 7 watts/mm with 17 dB linear gain and over 75 percent power added efficiency.
These performance metrics make NP45 suitable for use in high bandwidth 4G-5G high power macro-cell transmitters and small cells, according to WIN.
