Agnitron Selected for NASA Research Contract

Agnitron Technology announced today their Phase I proposal, titled “Radiation Hard Multichannel AlN/GaN HEMT for High Efficiency X- and Ka-Band Power Amplifiers”, submitted under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) FY-2014 Small Business Innovation Research Program Solicitation, has been competitively selected for negotiation. Agnitron is partnering on the effort with the University of Notre Dame, represented by Professors Huili (Grace) Xing and Debdeep Jena.

The effort will focus on development of low-loss, high power-density Aluminum Nitride (AlN)/Gallium Nitride (GaN) heterostructure based transistors for enabling high-efficiency solid state power amplifiers (SSPA). These high-efficiency SSPAs are needed for advancing communication capabilities of future robotic and human exploration spacecraft. During preliminary study of the multichannel AlN/GaN Field Screening High Electron Mobility Transistor (FS-HEMT) the structure has shown potential for offering a device which intrinsically eliminates current collapse phenomenon at X- and Ka-band frequencies – a problem which plagues traditional HEMT designs. It is anticipated that optimization of this device will ultimately deliver a radiation-hard, low-loss, high-power device beyond today’s current X- and Ka-band switch technology for improving SSPA efficiency and reducing their size and weight.

A complete list of NASA FY2014 SBIR grantees is provided at the following website: http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/award_firm_list/selection_nid/52893.

Agnitron Technology, Inc. specializes in developing emerging compound semiconductor material and device technologies into profitable commercial products as well as economical custom MOCVD equipment solutions. Agnitron’s diverse team and partners draw from backgrounds in physics, materials science, semiconductor processing and electrical and mechanical engineering. Collectively, this team is credited with more than 400 published manuscripts and over 50 patents. Visit www.agnitron.com for more information.

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