From: compoundsemiconductor.net

Korean vendor says it favors performance and reliability provided by SiC substrates over silicon for GaN wireless components.RFHIC says that GaN-on-SiC devices can be competitive with products manufactured on silicon wafers, thanks to economies of scale offered by its strategic partner Cree.



“Although GaN-on-SiC is not the cheapest GaN solution, Cree makes it a viable alternative even compared to the most cut-throat LDMOS,” said Kevin Kim, senior international sales manager at RFHIC.

Cree announced that it had signed a strategic agreement with the fabless Korean wireless component manufacturer to supply it with GaN HEMTs at the beginning of June.In 2006 RFHIC originally embarked on a strategic alliance with Cree's Durham, North Carolina, neighbor Nitronex, which produces GaN devices on silicon substrates.Now, RFHIC's chief technology officer Samuel Cho has indicated that the latest deal is part of a clear move away from GaN-on-silicon.“We converted our product line and future direction to Cree's GaN-on-SiC HEMT technology based on its superior thermal and electrical characteristics as well as its outstanding robustness and reliability,” he said.

The high-volume LED manufacturing business that Cree is better known for is founded on its SiC expertise, and RFHIC says that is a major attraction. Now the Korean firm is exploiting low-defect, stable supply and comparatively low cost substrates, among other advantages that Cree can provide.“Their fab overhead is being shared with SiC power products,” Kevin Kim told compoundsemiconductor.net. “With increasing the wafer diameter and a large total number of processed wafers in the fab, we expect there will be a significant cost benefit in the long run.”Kim also said that the collaboration strategy, in which Cree focuses on device and transistor level products and RFHIC works on hybrid and pallet amplifiers, suits his company.

Key customers in the broadcasting and communication markets are already receiving RFHIC's GaN-on-SiC wideband amplifiers. Higher volume production is scheduled for the final quarter of 2009, and the majority of the projects are multi-year contracts.

In response to Cho's comments, Nitronex director of marketing Ray Crampton claims his company's latest products have better thermal performance than any of its competitors' offerings.“We have won major military design-wins at tier one customers based on both performance and robustness advantages over SiC-based GaN HEMTs,” he said. “Our robustness is proven and accepted as is our electrical and thermal performance.”

“While I respect the potential of any competitor, RFHIC has not shown the ability to take advantage of the performance benefits of GaN and I don't expect them to be a significant player on the competitive battle field.”



GaN development for RF applications owes a great deal to the DARPA Wide-Bandgap Semiconductor (WBGS) program, which has featured Cree in the largest of its three development projects.In March Raytheon, which has collaborated with Cree on this project, was the first to announce it had entered Phase III of WBGS with a $23.9 million contract.Fellow WBGS pioneer TriQuint gained $16.5 million to progress the strand of the project in which it is leading Lockheed-Martin, BAE Systems, II-VI and IQE RF in early June.
No public statement has yet been made by the third strand, led by Northrop Grumman and including RFMD via its acquisition of Sirenza, on whether it is entering Phase III.Each of the three RF device makers involved in the WBGS projects has now launched a GaN foundry service. RFMD officially launched its offering at the MTT-S International Microwave Symposium this month, after TriQuint and Cree launched theirs last year.

Richard: 嘿嘿，Nitronex在公然鄙视RFHIC。RFHIC放弃Nitronex的GaN-on-Si转向Cree的GaN-on-SiC，怪不得Nitronex不高兴。不过，就我们使用Nitronex的GaN HEMT的经验，确实不像他所宣称的那么好。当然，不能排除我们和RFHIC一样，不是他们的产品不好，只是我们没有能力挖掘出他们产品的潜能。一想到Cree的GaN HEMT，就想起来吴毅峰。哎，我们不知道努力多少年，才能看到他的背影。

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真的厌倦了这样的学习和工作，就像一个无头的苍蝇，满怀冲出黑暗的理想，不断振翅奋发，却永远不知道出口到底在哪里，甚至连路线是否正确都不知道。在最需要一盏明灯指引方向的时候，没有；在最需要有人来对我高声棒喝，告诉我“嗨，小伙子，你走错方向了”的时候，没有......

--呃，呃，my Jordan，我这是在抱怨吗？警醒。即使不知道对错，也不能停止追求。

斗争，斗争！！

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再说一遍：“使自己永远优秀的办法就是，永远和比自己优秀的人在一起。”