Raytheon Technologies has announced it is partnering with GlobalFoundries (GF), a full-service semiconductor foundry, to enhance 5G wireless connectivity.
Tough and thermally stable, Gallium nitride (GaN) is an excellent choice for building high-performance semiconductors that can withstand high voltage and fast switching speeds.
GaN also shows promise for 5G cellular base station applications because of its high power density and voltage breakdown limits.
Per reports, Raytheon and GF aim to develop and commercialize a feature-rich gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) semiconductor to meet evolving 5G and 6G radio frequency (RF) millimeter-wave operating frequency standards.
GF will build the new semiconductor at its Fab 9 facility in Burlington, Vermont, with Raytheon Technologies providing its proprietary gallium nitride on silicon technology.
"This partnership will enable everything from AI-supported phones and driverless cars to the smart grid, as well as governments' access to data and networks which are essential to national security," said Tom Caulfield, GF CEO.
Most notably, the new GaN offering from Raytheon and GF will help customers increase RF performance and efficiency while optimizing production and operational costs.
"Raytheon Technologies was one of the pioneers advancing RF gallium arsenide technology which has been broadly used in mobile and wireless markets, and we have similarly been at the forefront of advancing gallium nitride technology for use in advanced military systems," added Mark Russell, Raytheon Technologies' chief technology officer.
"Our agreement with GlobalFoundries not only demonstrates our common goal to make high performance communications technologies available at an affordable cost to our customers it continues to prove how investments in advanced defense technologies can improve lives, as well as defend them."
