Winners 2011 CS Industry Awards Most Innovative Device Award
Advanced Gallium Nitride (GaN) research and development
TriQuint received a multi-year Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) research award of $16.2 million to create complex, high dynamic range circuits for future defence and aerospace semiconductor applications. These are some of the most demanding uses for semiconductors in any industry, and a significant technical undertaking.
The intent of this R&D contract was to conduct advanced Gallium Nitride (GaN) research and development, to create new generations of compound semiconductor circuits through the Nitride Electronic NeXt- Generation Technology (NEXT) program. The NEXT program goals are focused on the development of GaN circuits that fundamentally advance design engineering.
These developments could set the stage for revolutionary new designs that are as different as today’s computers are different from those of the 1980s. TriQuint believes that in the future, the leap in technology resulting from NEXT program research will be looked back upon as a significant turning point in the evolution of semiconductor engineering. Gallium Nitride handles more power per square millimetre than gallium arsenide. It is also much more efficient than silicon. However, even when one considers the significant advances TriQuint has pioneered, today’s GaN technology has frequency and power limitations related strictly to its relative maturity compared to GaAs and Si tech. The NEXT program is designed to advance GaN several generations to create high-power / high- efficiency logic circuits. By advancing the GaN technology, greater efficiencies will be
introduced. These include improved ruggedness and the ability to withstand stressful environmental conditions experienced in aerospace and defence applications. It also means significantly expanding capabilities, which makes the product more useful and practical. Success of the TriQuint NEXT program could result in an industry-wide adoption of new technologies with wide reaching economies and improved performance
What is particularly novel is the significance of the aggressive R&D goal the company has set itself. The results of this R&D could be revolutionary. The ability to undertake this level of research comes from a deep understanding of existing GaN technology and the resources needed to improve it. GaN is already recognized for its ability to handle more power per square millimetre than other semiconductor technologies such as gallium arsenide, and much more so than silicon. However, even with the advances TriQuint has pioneered, today’s analogue GaN technology has frequency and power limits. So, the need to re-imagine a conventional process is fundamental to the approach to this R&D program.
Editors Comment: GaN’s great attributes have already revolutionized the LED, laser and RF electronics industries. With the help of TriQuint, the march of this wide bandgap wonder material is set to continue, making an impact in the production of logic circuits.
June 2011
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 33
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