RF Micro Devices awarded navy contract for GaN RF power

RF Micro Devices has been awarded a US$1.5 million R&D contract by the US Office of Naval Research to include the development of materials, device fabrication and high-power circuits, using gallium nitride (GaN) microelectronics.

The contract expands the company's contract backlog over the next six quarters to about $5 million. Since 2004, RFMD has been awarded over $14.5 million in R&D contracts by the US Government for development of its GaN high-power RF technology.

GaN technology is said to offer performance advantages for applications, including radar, mobile communication and electronic warfare.

In addition to military systems, RFMD's GaN RF power technology provides enhanced performance to a growing number of commercial power amplifier applications, including private mobile radio, 3G/LTE wireless infrastructure and CATV transmission networks.