RFMD get a 2.1 million contract with DARPA

RF Micro Devices, Inc. (RFMD), a design and manufacture of high-performance radio frequency components and compound semiconductor technologies, today announced it has been awarded a $2.1 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to enhance the thermal efficiency of gallium nitride (GaN) circuits used in high power radar and other military systems. The award is in association with the Near Junction Thermal Transport (NJTT) effort of DARPA's Thermal Management Technologies (TMT) program. The goal of the DARPA NJTT initiative is to achieve a 3x or greater improvement in power handling from GaN power amplifiers through improved thermal management of the near junction region. By combining thermally-enhanced diamond substrates with RFMD's industry-leading GaN-on-SiC high power technology, RFMD expects to significantly improve power density and power handling capability. Jeff Shealy, vice president and general manager of RFMD's Power Broadband business unit, said, "RFMD is excited to work with DARPA to apply new technologies to our existing portfolio of GaN-based high power RF amplifier products. We expect the NJTT program will result in a new generation of higher performing, more compact RF high power amplifiers (HPAs) with lower operating temperature and greater RF power-per-unit area." RFMD's partners in the program include the Georgia Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Group4 Labs, and Boeing.