RFMD Announces Major Gallium Nitride (GaN) Milestones

(Product News, 18 Nov 2009)

RF Micro Devices Inc. has qualified and released the RF3931, a 48-volt, 30-watt gallium nitride (GaN) unmatched transistor optimized for high power commercial and defense applications. The RF3931 is RFMD's first GaN product to achieve full product qualification, a process through which RF products are released by RFMD for mass production. Shipments of the RF3931 have commenced to multiple high power amplifier (HPA) manufacturers, and RFMD anticipates GaN shipments will increase significantly as new GaN products are introduced.

Bob Bruggeworth, president and CEO of RFMD, said, "We fully expect RFMD's GaN process technology will play a central role in our corporate mission to extend and leverage our leadership in RF components and compound semiconductor technologies into multiple industries. The unique physical properties of RFMD's GaN technology deliver performance that is unattainable by current competing technologies. Also, RFMD's GaN technology is manufactured in the same high-volume manufacturing facility as our industry-leading GaAs products, providing RFMD a measurable competitive advantage. Accordingly, we believe our GaN technology will become a disruptive technology across a broad range of commercial and defense markets."

Jeff Shealy, VP and general manager of RFMD's Defense and Power business unit, said, "We are very pleased to announce the full product qualification and shipments of RFMD's first GaN product. These achievements are major milestones for RFMD as we drive adoption of our GaN technology, increase our presence in the high-power RF market and satisfy our customers' increasing emphasis on 'green' technologies. RFMD's state-of-the-art GaN process technology delivers superior RF power per square millimeter and superior RF conversion efficiency, as compared to current semiconductor technologies."

The 30-watt RF3931 is part of a family of five RFMD GaN unmatched power transistors to be released for mass production over the next two quarters. Ranging from 10 watts to 120 watts, these wide bandwidth, unmatched power transistors enable the development of high-efficiency HPAs for a broad range of applications, including cellular and WiMAX infrastructure, CATV, military communications, public mobile radio, radar and radar jammers. In wireless and wireline applications, RFMD's unmatched power transistors enable "green" architectures that reduce energy costs and improve network efficiency for network operators.