Microsemi Releases First Series of SiC High Power Devices

A few years ago most of the HPA manufacturers were researching the next generation of high power devices on GaN and SiC. But is seems like most companies choose GaN for their next generation of devices and interest in SiC seemed to fade (except as a substrate material for GaN).

Over the past year, many companies have released new high power GaN devices and it seems to be taking off for many of the higher frequency applications and high voltage LDMOS seems to be doing the same for lower frequency applications. So I am excited to see Microsemi bringing SiC to the market with the release of a new family of high power devices and talked with them last week for a press briefing.

With a high operating voltage (125 V) and great thermal conductivity, these devices boost wider pulse widths, better reliability, and reduced size compared to the competing Si devices for next generation demands. They have typical power levels of 1400 W at 156 MHz and 1100 W at 405-450 MHz (300 micro sec pulse width, 10% duty cycle) plus can stand up to VSWR of 10:1 (which could be much higher after further testing) for these initial devices. Microsemi is first introducing these VHF and UHF devices followed by later releases of L-band and S-band devices. For more details, the release is available on our site. It should be interesting to follow how these devices evolve in the marketplace.