IQE has won a contract with US-based semiconductor foundry
TriQuint Semiconductor to provide gallium nitride (GaN) wafer
products for the fabrication of high dynamic range circuits for
future defence and aerospace applications.
IQE's New Jersey operation sub-contract GaN wafer products to
TriQuint as part of an $16.2m Defence Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) multi-year GaN R&D contract.
The programme aims to advance GaN research and develop new
generations of compound semiconductor circuits through the Nitride
Electronic NeXt-Generation Technology (NEXT) programme.
GaN is already recognised for its ability to handle more power per
square millimetre than other semiconductor technologies like
gallium arsenide and silicon.
This project is aimed at adressing some of the operating frequency
and power limits of the technology and if successful could see it
becoming a mainstream semiconductor technology.
"NEXT circuits will be `game-changing` technology that could
radically improve performance in defence and aerospace applications
like phased array radar and communications. NEXT calls for complex
digital GaN circuits that also have very high breakdown
voltages-something that silicon can't do, and that is also beyond
the scope of today's other semiconductor processes," said
TriQuint's Principal Investigator, senior Fellow Dr. Paul
Saunier.
"The four and half year NEXT programme lead by TriQuint will
utilise IQE's GaN wafer product expertise with the ultimate aim of
developing and producing advanced semiconductor chips with
operating frequencies up to 500GHz," said Alex Ceruzzi, v-p and
general manager of IQE's New Jersey facility, which specialises in
GaN HEMT epi processes.
The Group's gallium nitride production capability was recently
increased through the acquisition of UK-based NanoGan Limited
announced earlier in October 2009.