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Most of the microwave amplifiers modules (MMICs), mixers, etc. the company I work for are built on GaAs, and we're starting to use GaN (Gallium Nitride) on one
by stephen_g 11y ago
Most of the microwave amplifiers modules (MMICs), mixers, etc. the company I work for are built on GaAs, and we're starting to use GaN (Gallium Nitride) on one of our Ka band units (28-31GHz). The GaN parts are quite a bit more power efficient.
Not exactly sure why the tech is not more widely used though. Funnily enough, most of the GaN and GaAs devices in general use are LEDs!
- jakub_h 11y agoIn late 1980s, it was expected that by 2000, you'd have a GaAs computer on every desktop (powered by Occam or Prolog, of course ;-)). In the end, it turned out that silicon had more life in it than was expected, while being much cheaper and easier to manufacture.
- yakshemash 11y agoThere was also the fact that silicon was already heavily entrenched in the industry by the time people started to tinker with the possibilities of GaAs seriously. At least that's what I understood to be the main factor after listening to Seymour Cray's talk which was posted here some time ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW7j2ipE2Ck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW7j2ipE2Ck He talks about how difficult it was to convince large suppliers to work with GaAs at about 30 minutes into the talk.