STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor supplier, and MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, a supplier of semiconductor products for the telecommunications, industrial, defense and data center industries, announced the successful production of radio frequency silicon gallium nitride-on (RF GaN-on - Si) prototypes.
With this achievement, ST and MACOM will continue to work together and improve our relationship.
GaN-on-Silicon RF offers high potential for 5G and 6G infrastructure. The long-standing existing RF power technology, laterally diffused metal-oxide semiconductor (LDMOS), dominated first-generation RF power amplifiers (PAs). GaN can offer superior RF characteristics and significantly higher output power than LDMOS for these RF PAs.
What's more: it can be manufactured on silicon or silicon carbide (SiC) wafers. RF GaN-on-SiC can be more expensive due to competition for SiC wafers from high-power applications and due to its unconventional semiconductor processing. On the other hand, the GaN-on-Si technology being developed by ST and MACOM is expected to offer competitive performance combined with large economies of scale, made possible by its integration into standard semiconductor process flows.
The prototype wafers and devices manufactured by ST have achieved cost and performance targets that would allow them to effectively compete with existing LDMOS and GaN-on-SiC technologies on the market. These prototypes are now moving towards the next big milestones – qualification and industrialization.
ST is on track to achieve these milestones in 2022. With this progress, ST and MACOM have begun discussions to further expand their efforts to accelerate the delivery of advanced GaN-on-Si RF products to market.
“We believe the technology has now reached levels of performance and process maturity where it can effectively challenge established LDMOS and GaN-on-SiC and we can offer attractive cost and supply chain advantages for high-volume applications, including wireless infrastructure,” said Edoardo Merli, general manager of the power transistors subgroup and executive vice president of STMicroelectronics. “The commercialization of GaN-on-Silicon RF products is the next major milestone in our collaboration with MACOM, and with continued progress, we look forward to fully realizing the potential of this exciting technology.”
“Together, we continue to make good progress in moving GaN-on-Si technology toward commercialization and high-volume production,” added Stephen G. Daly, president and CEO of MACOM. “Our collaboration with ST is an important part of our RF Power strategy and I am confident that we can gain market share in specific applications where GaN-on-Silicon technology meets technical requirements.”
