News Article
IQE scores GaN deal
IQE continues to support TriQuint Semiconductor in new US government contract for GaN based materials
IQE announced that its manufacturing facility in Somerset, New Jersey will support TriQuint Semiconductor with a range of GaN based wafer products following its recent award of a US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract. TriQuint has been awarded the Defense Production Act Title III gallium nitride (GaN) manufacturing development contract, the overall goal of which is to increase yields, lower costs of high power, high frequency 100mm Gallium Nitride wafers and improve time-to-market cycles for defence and commercial GaN integrated circuits.
Gallium nitride is a key process technology that is leading advanced semiconductor amplifier design for high-end radio-frequency (RF) communications applications. The material system has inherent advantages over other technologies including high voltage operation, greater power density (more power per square millimeter) and efficiency. The on-going development of GaN-based devices is leading to new smaller, more efficient amplifiers aimed at reducing system size, weight and power consumption.
Mr Alex Ceruzzi, VP and General Manager of IQE’s New Jersey facility commented, “IQE is proud of its close working relationship with TriQuint Semiconductor in supplying reliable, high-quality products ranging from high volume GaAs based RF materials to emerging technologies such as 100mm GaN epitaxial wafers. We appreciate TriQuint’s continued commitment in selecting IQE to support this key programme.”
TriQuint is a leading global provider of innovative RF solutions and foundry services for the world’s leading communications, defence and aerospace companies and has more than 25 years’ experience in successfully transferring new technologies into volume manufacturing processes. The Company supplies RF innovation for consumer retail products including mobile devices, wireless LAN, triple-play CATV systems, optical network and wireless infrastructure applications.
IQE manufactures a range of advanced semiconductor materials and has closely supported TriQuint with a number of products including GaN for a number of years.
The programme is expected to conclude in 2013 and is divided into three phases with specific goals and assessment criteria at each milestone. The overall aim of the new contract is to demonstrate integrated device technology that meets stringent goals in terms of performance, cost and capacity, and whilst the initial work will be designed for defence applications, it is anticipated that the technologies will eventually migrate to future generations of consumer and communications devices.
