GaN HEMTs for 1kW L-band E2C HPA

GaN HEMTs have the ability to delivery very high power levels when operated at at high voltages (48V). Therefore, they are ideally suited for high power amplifiers such as the E2C HPA used in the Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. The current version of the E2C HPA utilizes silicon technology. We propose to develop a reliable 300W GaN packaged device that can be used to develop a significantly lighter and smaller HPA. Specifically, we will be replacing 21 silicon devices with only 5 GaN devices, which is estimated to reduce weight by a factor of 2 with a new system design. Further, we will develop such a device on the reliable GaN FET on Si platform technology that is fully qualified for military and commercial applications. The MTTF of our GaN FET technology is >10 million hours at a Tj of 150 degress celsius.