Why GaN is the focus of future industries

alan000345

Why GaN is the focus of future industries [Copy link]

During the evolution from 3G to 5G , the signal modulation methods are constantly evolving, which has made gallium nitride gradually become the focus of industry attention.

The advantages brought by GaN include: a significant reduction in the cost of GaN , and improved reliability and efficiency , which were not available in previous process devices such as LDMOS or GaAs .

Let’s first look at the PA aspect. GaN can bring improvements in three aspects . Let’s take a closer look.

1. Supporting higher signal bandwidth

This is determined by the low parasitic capacitance and high resistance of GaN;

• With higher efficiency

This is brought about by its low RF loss;

• Can output higher power.

In high-frequency and wide-bandwidth applications, maintaining better linearity while increasing power places considerable demands on devices, and the characteristics of gallium nitride allow them to easily meet this challenge.

Compared with traditional gallium arsenide devices, under the same conditions, the lifespan and usage time of gallium nitride are much higher than those of gallium arsenide.

In terms of device temperature control, GaN devices perform much better than GaAs devices .

Judging from the needs of 5G base stations, they require devices to support more frequency bands while being miniaturized. This is even more necessary in the millimeter wave era, where 128T or even 256T antenna arrays are needed. In addition, hardware cost is also an important factor limiting the development of 5G base stations. Finally, power consumption is also a key consideration for operators.

From the perspective of antennas, as shown in the figure, the antenna array should be manufactured using the silicon germanium process. However, the output power of antennas designed using this process cannot be high. Because once the power is too high, the efficiency of the device cannot be achieved. This means that under the same EIRP , more antenna lines are required. When it comes to gallium arsenide, the power can be relatively high. Gallium nitride can be even higher.

Now it is clear why it is the focus of the future industry. The above content is excerpted from Kevin He , senior sales manager of Qorvo Infrastructure Division, " Millimeter Wave Technology and Solutions Based on 5G Base Stations". For more information, please click to read the original text .

btty038

High efficiency, small size, powerful functions, fast speed, always on the road of pursuit

se7ens

It feels like lower loss and higher voltage resistance

hqli126

The performance of gallium nitride devices is much higher than that of gallium arsenide devices. Now antennas are even integrated into ICs?

alan000345

btty038 posted on 2021-8-11 21:57 High efficiency, small size, powerful functions, fast speed, always on the road of pursuit

Yes, such performance

The design is really becoming more and more convenient.

alan000345

se7ens posted on 2021-8-13 13:58 It feels like lower loss and higher voltage resistance

Yeah, it should be good.

alan000345

hqli126 Published on 2021-8-15 07:30 The performance of GaN devices is much higher than that of GaAs devices. Now the antenna is made into IC?

Integration is becoming increasingly high.