High-performance RF power transistor supplier Nitronex announced at the WiMAX World that its GaN-on-silicon manufacturing process with 0.5 micron lithography is now fully qualified for volume production. The first three members of a family of discrete high-performance RF power transistors will target WiMAX applications.

Consequently, the three new gallium nitride (GaN)-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are for use in power amplifiers operating in the 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz and 2.3 GHz to 2.7 GHz bands of the WiMAX market. According to Nitronex, they offer high gain, high efficiency and high linearity, along with broadband operation.

The NPT35050 is a 50 W/28 V device with an average output power of 6 W from 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz and a saturated power output at 3.5 GHz of 65 W. At the average power output level (>6 W), it offers 10.5 dB of gain. And offers error vector magnitude (EVM), a measure of linearity, of less than 2.5%, while its drain efficiency is 8%. It is packaged in an air-cavity plastic package with a copper-moly-copper flange for enhanced thermal performance.

Likewise, the NPT35015 and NPT25015 are both 15 W/28 V power transistors operating from 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz and 2.3 GHz to 2.7 GHz, respectively. Both parts deliver 1.5 W of average power at 2% EVM during OFDM operation. These parts take advantage of small, cost-effective plastic overmold packaging, which is common in other semiconductor segments but is relatively new to RF power transistors. In fact, the 35015 and 25015 are running in high-volume packaging production at Amkor Technology without any modification to Amkor's standard processes, Nitronex said.

“The WiMAX market requires combinations of power, efficiency, frequency and bandwidth that are beyond the specs of the current cellular market. In addition, considerable pressure is being applied to smaller form factors and to total cost of WiMAX infrastructure hardware,” said Christopher Rauh, Nitronex's vice president of marketing.

“Our approach — using industry-standard silicon substrates — is key for a number of reasons. The use of 100 mm silicon wafers allows us the scale to produce statistically significant and compelling reliability data, to use proven packages from the silicon industry and to quickly scale up volume production. All of these issues are paramount to our OEM customers.”

All three GaN transistors are available. In addition, evaluation kits for each are being offered. While the NPT35050 evaluation kit comes with two parts and an application board for a price of $950, the NPT35015 & NPT25015 evaluation kits come with an application board and a single device surface-mounted to the board. NPT35015 and NPT25015 application kits are priced at $650 each.

For more information, visit www.nitronex.com.

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