The MCM ITP (Materials and Components for Missiles, Innovation and Technology Partnership) is a UK MoD and DGA sponsored research fund open to all Anglo-French companies and Academic Institutions.
During the conference organized by MCM ITP on the 21st and 22nd of October, UMS presented the results of 2 projects; Extreme GaN and C-Band GaN high Power Amplifier in Package.
Extreme GaN project
UMS, the University of Bordeaux and the University of Bristol were presented with an award for the Extreme GaN project for the “Most exploitable results”.
The extreme GaN project is a common research project gathering United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS), the University of Bordeaux and the University of Bristol with the following team:
- B. Lambert, UMS
- C. Chang, UMS
- M. Rzin, Univ Bordeaux
- A. Curutchet, Univ Bordeaux
N. Saysset-Malbert Univ Bordeaux - N. Labat, Univ Bordeaux
- J. Pomeroy, Univ Bristol
- M. Kuball, Univ Bristol
The project objective was to investigate the RF power breakthrough available with UMS-GaN GH25_10 technology for missile RF seekers/sensors and to establish its capability to operate at very high temperature and high RF power density to fit with the missile lifetime mission profile and consequently provide the basis for the subsequent implementation of this new technology for UK and French Defence.
Since 2014, UMS has commercially qualified a full MMIC process, GH25-10, for GaN applications up to Ku-band providing 4W/mm RF power. In Extreme GaN project, UMS demonstrated that this technology is capable to provide more than 6.5W/mm by increasing the operating voltage from 30 to 50V, far above commercial limits defined by UMS.
This result has been supported by load pull characterizations at high voltage in addition to thermal characterisation and modeling under pulsed condition, and breakdown voltage measurement on the technology.
C Band GaN High Power Amplifier in package
This project involves a Gallium Nitride semiconductor technology offering significant advantages for high power applications compared to existing solutions. High power density combined with high power added efficiency are providing versatility at module level. Under MCM-ITP, Domain 8E, a development of a C Band packaged HPA has been carried out in order to demonstrate the capability of the UMS 0.25 μm HEMT GaN process on a SiC substrate to address a missile data link application.