Spending on microwave RF power semiconductors will rise to more than $300m by 2019 as the availability of new gallium nitride (GaN) devices for 4-18GHz becomes more pervasive, according to the report 'Microwave RF Power Semiconductors' from ABI Research, which examines devices with power outputs of more than 3 watts operating at frequencies of 4-18GHz.
Point-to-point communications, SatCom, radar of all types, and new industrial/medical applications will all benefit from the introduction of high-power GaN devices, adds the report (part of ABI Research's High-Power RF Active Devices Market Research), which contains analysis of the six main vertical segments (C-band GaAs, C-band GaN, X-band GaAs, X-band GaN, Ku-band GaAs, and Ku-band GaN) and is further expanded to 28 application sub-segments.
"While gallium arsenide (GaAs) devices are presently the backbone of microwave RF power, it is gallium nitride that will drive growth going forward," notes ABI Research director Lance Wilson. "GaN can operate at much higher voltages and at power levels that were difficult or impossible to reach using GaAs," he adds.
In addition to the above-mentioned application segments, microwave GaN is finally reaching the performance points that can start to seriously challenge travelling-wave tube applications for new designs that have historically used the latter.