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Gallium Nitride on Silicon Carbide Radar/Electronic Warfare Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits Production Capacity Project

Project Status: Current

Description:

The purpose of this project is to increase the yield, affordability, and availability of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) produced on 100 mm Gallium Nitride epitaxy on Silicon Carbide substrates. The goal is to achieve a Manufacturing Readiness Level of 8, meaning the processes are ready for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP).

The project accomplished an initial baseline manufacturing readiness assessment (MRA). A producibility improvement effort was tailored to address the results of the MRA to center processes and reduce process variation. At project completion, a final MRA will be conducted to assess production capability and readiness.

PA # 88ABW-2011-1990

Example of a MMIC Circuit

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Applications and Benefits

The objective of this project is to assess, refine, and validate domestic production ready processes for S-Band & Wide-Band Gallium Nitride (GaN) Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC), thereby improving manufacturing at two domestic
open foundry suppliers of GaN MMICs.

The primary objective is to achieve a Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) of 8, indicating that the production processes are ready to support Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) of MMICs employing GaN epitaxy on 100mm SiC substrates. Furthermore, the contractors will develop an Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) manufacturing capability for capacitor dielectrics designed within GaN MMICs to improve the yield, reliability, and performance of the capacitor resulting in a more robust process able to handle the extreme operational environments.

The project will exercise the MMIC production process in three phases.

First phase: baseline Manufacturing Readiness Assessment (MRA) to identify specific tasks for improvement throughout the project

Second phase: refining and improvement phase, in which multiple designed experiments will be incrementally undertaken to improve aspects identified during the baseline assessment

Third phase: final MRA, will include all approved manufacturing changes and will be the concluding evaluation of foundry’s production process open foundry suppliers of GaN MMICs.

The primary objective is to achieve a Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) of 8, indicating that the production processes are ready to support Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) of MMICs employing GaN epitaxy on 100mm SiC substrates. Furthermore, the contractors will develop an Atomic Layer Deposition manufacturing capability for capacitor dielectrics designed within GaN MMICs to improve the yield, reliability, and performance of the capacitor resulting in a more robust process able to handle the extreme operational environments.

The project will exercise the MMIC production process in three phases.

First phase: a baseline Manufacturing Readiness Assessment (MRA) to identify specific tasks for improvement throughout the project.

Second phase: a refine and improve phase, in which multiple designed experiments will be incrementally undertaken to improve aspects identified during the baseline assessment.

Third phase: a final MRA, which will include all approved manufacturing changes and will be the concluding evaluation of foundry’s production process.

Activities and Accomplishments

- Completed Baseline Manufacturing Readiness Assessment (MRA) of production capability.

- Completed several rounds of yield and reliability process improvements.

- Ongoing reliability assessments

- Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) film analysis underway.

- Delivered MMICs for government evaluation.