Strong wireless demand resulted in growth of more than 25% in the gallium arsenide (GaAs) IC market in 2015, according to The Information Network in its report 'The GaAs IC Market'.
Every cell phone contains power amplifiers (PA), enabling the handset to transmit voice and data back to the base-station tower. As the most critical radio frequency component in the phone, PAs are currently dominated by circuits made with GaAs.
2G handsets contain one PA while 3G handsets often contain up to five PAs, and GaAs comprises nearly 100% of the market. Typically, the power amplifier is based on GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology to amplify RF signals in the phone. Today's RF front-ends are moving towards multi-mode, multi-band power amplifiers (MMPAs). Regarding 4G, according to the report, Apple's 6S smartphone contains six PAs: Avago's ACPM-7600 and ACPM-8010, Qualcomm's QFE2320 and QFE2340, and Skyworks' SKY85303 and SKY85707.
The Information Network notes that GaAs power amplifiers will continue to lose market share to silicon-based CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor), but will remain the dominant RF technology in the foreseeable future. In particular, pricing for PAs has risen from $0.30 per 2G handset to $1.25 per 3G handset and $3.25 for global long-term evolution (LTE) technology, adds the report.
