A review of gallium nitride (GaN) based devices for high power and high frequency applications

In the past decade with the advent of high speed electronic devices, the global market usage for personal, cellular communication devices and services such as expansion to broadband internet access third, fourth-generation (3G/4G) mobile systems coming closer to reality. In the manufacturing industry, the Radio Frequency (RF) and Microwave power amplifiers are beginning to be the focus of attention. There are numerous high power amplifiers available in the market, giving the industry choices to range from price to performance factors. In this paper, we present the materials properties of Gallium Nitride (GaN) with a comparative analysis to the competing materials used for applications which require higher power and high frequency devices. The reliability issues of Aluminum Gallium Nitride (AlGaN)/GaN based High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) are the main hurdle for the commercialization of GaN based devices. Due to remarkable potential in other fields, GaN can offer many solutions in the electronic devices. Overall, with help of recent studies, we discuss competitive advantages of GaN based devices and amplifiers for commercial products.