Displaying news tagged: electronic warfare

The New Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit Promises Disruptive Improvements in Radar, Communications, and Electronic Warfare

HRL Laboratories, LLC, will further its maturation of gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor fabrication with a new award as part of the US Navy’s SOTA Radio Frequency Gallium Nitride “STARRY NITE” program. The $24M program is administered by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division and the National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL). The program will enable HRL to advance the manufacturing readiness level of its 40nm node T3 GaN process.

HRL Laboratories scientists are aiming for a disruptive improvement in radar, electronic warfare, and communications capabilities they hope will be enabled by their new project. If they are successful, the W-band, nitrogen-polar gallium nitride low-noise amplifier could be the world’s first such device, launching a new generation of defense-oriented electronics applications with a possible improvement of 4 times the output power in W bands over HRL’s existing technology.

HRL Laboratories has received a DARPA award to significantly advance the technology and manufacturing readiness levels of its leading-edge T3 GaN technology. Integrated circuits made by layering GaN onto silicon carbide substrate wafers offer the best combination of efficiency, output power, and survivability among radio frequency and millimeter-wave semiconductor technologies.

A team from HRL’s Microelectronics Laboratory led by Jeong-Sun Moon has developed a linear wideband distributed amplifier circuit to enable clear, consistent communication between systems operating in some of the world’s most difficult situations.