Nitronex LLC of Durham, NC, USA, which designs and makes gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si)-based RF power transistors for the defense, communications, cable TV and industrial & scientific markets, has fully qualified its NPT1015 transistor.
The NPT1015 is a 28V, DC-2.5GHz, 50W power transistor with 15dB saturated gain and 65% peak drain efficiency at 2GHz. Its thermal resistance is 1.9°C/W, which is reckoned to be among the lowest in the industry in this power class. Also, the GaN technology is claimed to be capable of surviving the industry’s most severe robustness tests without significant device degradation.
Developed under an entirely new design process, the NPT1015 leverages Nitronex’s existing 28V NRF1 process platform, which has been in volume production since 2009. One hundred NPT1015 devices from four wafers were subjected to a 15:1 VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio) at all phase angles with 90°C base-plate temperature. During VSWR testing, all devices operated in a saturated average power condition driven by a 4000 carrier 200MHz wideband signal with a 19.5dB peak-to-average ratio. The devices showed 100% survivability and only ~0.2dB average change in saturated output power.
“The NPT1015 is a robust next-generation product, as it incorporates significant thermal management improvements that increase breakdown and lowers thermal impedance,” says president & CEO Greg Baker. “We are using these same techniques in our new 48V product line.” The advances in product robustness and reliability put Nitronex’s GaN-on-Si devices on a par with, or ahead of, competitive products that primarily use GaN-on-SiC, he adds.
Nitronex’s patented SIGANTIC GaN-on-Si process is claimed to be the only production-qualified GaN process using an industry-standard 4” silicon substrate. This results in a robust, scalable supply chain, positioning Nitronex well for the growth expected from emerging GaN markets such as military communications, broadband, radar, commercial wireless, satellite communications and point-to-point microwave, the firm reckons.
Fully qualified NPT1015 transistors are now available from stock to 12 weeks.
