HRL Researchers Set Another Record with World's Fastest GaN Transistors in DARPA's NEXT Program

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 6, 2011—Researchers from HRL Laboratories, LLC, announced today at the International Electron Devices Meeting that they reached a new milestone in gallium nitride (GaN) electronics with the world's fastest GaN transistors developed in the NEXT program, or Nitride Electronic NeXt-Generation Technology.

Sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and under the management of the Air Force Research Laboratory, NEXT seeks to exploit the unique physical characteristics of GaN to develop game-changing technology that could provide unprecedented capabilities in mixed-signal electronics, high-bandwidth communications, and imaging and radar systems. HRL is leading a university team in the groundbreaking research.

The NEXT team initially broke the GaN electronics speed record in 2010, capitalizing on the high operating frequency and voltage GaN provides (unit gain frequency, Ft >200 GHz; and oscillation frequency, Fmax >300 GHz). Researchers took the technology to a new level this year using an advanced device fabrication process to develop transistors that demonstrate still higher performance (Ft >300 GHz).

“The breakthrough is significant and continues to confirm our approach,” said HRL NEXT program manager Dr. Miro Micovic. "These transistors show world-record performance and exhibit three times higher Ft than the state-of-the-art for GaN technology at the beginning of the NEXT program in 2009," he said. “I am confident our process and technology will continue to progress to meet the program's final metrics (Ft >500 GHz).”

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HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, California (www.hrl.com) is a corporate research-and-development laboratory owned by The Boeing Company and General Motors specializing in research into sensors and materials, information and systems sciences, applied electromagnetics, and microelectronics. HRL provides custom research and development and performs additional R&D contract services for its LLC member companies, the U.S. government, and other commercial companies.

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