Picogiga International, a division of the Soitec Group focused on the development and manufacturing of compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers and engineered substrate solutions, has announced a major technology advancement for radio-frequency (RF) and microwave components aimed at wireless-infrastructure and other high-speed applications. Picogiga claims its advanced epitaxial capabilities have enabled the development of silicon-based aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN)/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs).
According to Picogiga, they developed the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs structure with its MBE process for material growth, providing the structures to the research and development group of TriQuint Semiconductor, a supplier of high-performance components, modules and foundry services for communications applications. Using AlGaN/GaN heterostructures and 0.3-micron-length gates to fabricate the devices on silicon-based GaN epitaxial material,
TriQuint's research facility reported the industry's highest power density to date for a silicon-based transistor-continuous wave output power density of 7W/mm at 10GHz without external device cooling. The company reports it is now working on optimizing the technology's reliability and quality.
Picogiga introduced its new family of advanced AlGaN/GaN epitaxial layers on silicon substrates in early 2004.
Soitec Group :
www.soitec.com Picogiga International :
http://www.soitec.com
