RF Micro Devices claims it is time for very high power gallium nitride (GaN) HEMT (high electron mobility transistor) technology to make an impact in mobile phone infrastructure and WiMAX basestations.

According to David Aichele, director of business development at RFMD, GaN has “inherent characteristics that outperform LDMOS” in these linear architectures which result in better efficiencies. It also offers lower capacitance and higher impedance making it easier to match.

The firm also announced pre-production sampling of five gallium arsenide (GaAS) pHEMT low noise amplifiers (LNAs) for GSM, CDMA, UMTS, EDGE and WiMAX air interface standards. These are expected to be in production in September 2006.

Cree is another III-V specialist looking to offer a 400W GaN transistors later this year. According to Cree product manager Jim Milligan: “Upcoming mobile WiMAX applications are expected to require average OFDM output power between 10 and 25W. This will require transistors that are capable of delivering up to 400W of peak RF output.”

See also: Electronics Weekly's roundup of content related to WiMax