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.