Open Competition 2 - Electronics and Photonics

High Performance Transistors for Broadband Wireless Communications

Sponsor: Advanced Power Technology Colorado (formerly PowerSicel, Inc.)

• Project Performance Period: 7/1/2003 - 12/31/2005
• Total project (est.): $2,989,783.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,989,783.00

To improve cellular communications, satellite communications, radar, television broadcasting systems, industrial instruments, and medical equipment, PowerSicel proposes to develop a new family of high-performance power transistors. These transistors will operate at 10 times the power density and five times the efficiency of conventional power transistors, permitting the design of true broadband ultralinear power amplifiers up to X-band. Using transistor technology based on concepts developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder, PowerSicel will miniaturize the devices, improve the existing design, and develop a fabrication process suitable for mass production. These new transistors will use silicon carbide, a semiconductor having material properties vastly superior to either silicon or gallium arsenide, allowing operation at high temperatures and in harsh environments. The project entails high risk because it requires substantial improvement in new areas of wide bandgap material fabrication, design, and manufacturing. The plan calls for engaging industrial systems manufacturers as subcontractors for device testing/verification, packaging, and to consult on design implementations specific to their system applications. ATP support is necessary to accelerate development and thus avoid missing deployment in important near-term commercial systems and the opportunity to influence future architectures and bandwidth allocations. The higher power, increased efficiency, greater reliability, and smaller size of SiC transistors should reduce system costs by simplifying amplifier architecture and reducing cooling requirements. SiC transistors could improve the electronics used in cellular base stations (cell towers) and likely increase the U.S. share of the worldwide market for those stations. These high-performance transistors could substantially improve military and civilian radar systems and satellite communications and could be broadly beneficial to U.S. equipment manufactures.

For project information:

John Torvik, (303) 442-4250
jtorvik@powersicel.com

ATP Project Manager

Eric Samuelson, (301) 975-6393
eric.samuelson@nist.gov