BAE Systems
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BAE Works with AFRL to Advance GaN Technology

Sept. 19, 2018
BAE Systems has signed a cooperative agreement with the AFRL for the advancement of GaN ICs and active devices.

BAE Systems has signed a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for Phase 1 of a technical program to transition gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology developed by the Air Force to BAE’s Advanced Microwave Products (AMP) Center. As part of this transition, BAE will move the high-frequency, high-speed GaN technology to larger semiconductor wafers to increase the number of integrated circuits (ICs) and active devices that can be produced per wafer run.

Smaller wafer runs, such as 2- or 3-in.-diameter GaN wafers, will be transitioned to the 6-in.-diameter GaN wafers used at BAE’s AMP Center to cut the costs per chip of the GaN devices for use in radar, electronic warfare (EW), and secure communications systems. As part of the agreement, BAE is working with AFRL to establish a 140-nm GaN monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) process that will be qualified for production by 2020, with products available to DoD suppliers through an open foundry service.

“Millimeter-wave GaN technologies today are produced in research and development laboratories in low volumes at high associated costs or in captive foundries that are not broadly accessible to defense suppliers,” said Scott Sweetland, Advanced Microwave Products director at BAE Systems. “This effort will leverage AFRL’s high-performance technology and BAE Systems’ 6-in. manufacturing capability to advance the state of the art in GaN MMIC performance, reliability, and affordability while providing broader access to this critical technology.”

Work on the project will be performed mainly in BAE’s 70,000-ft.2 Microelectronics Center (MEC) in Nashua, N.H. The MEC has been an accredited DoD Category 1A Trusted Supplier since 2008, fabricating ICs in production quantities for critical DoD programs.

About the Author

Jack Browne | Technical Contributor

Jack Browne, Technical Contributor, has worked in technical publishing for over 30 years. He managed the content and production of three technical journals while at the American Institute of Physics, including Medical Physics and the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. He has been a Publisher and Editor for Penton Media, started the firm’s Wireless Symposium & Exhibition trade show in 1993, and currently serves as Technical Contributor for that company's Microwaves & RF magazine. Browne, who holds a BS in Mathematics from City College of New York and BA degrees in English and Philosophy from Fordham University, is a member of the IEEE.

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