Wolfspeed, a Cree Company, has extended its family of 50 V transistors and introduced an unmatched, GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). The device was created for the growing ultra-high frequency (UHF) radar market, in which defense, public safety and land mobile radio applications seek to upgrade performance and component lifecycle availability by implementing GaN RF power devices. The new UHF GaN RF device delivers greater power density and output power than competing Si LDMOS devices, enabling radar applications to benefit from greater range within the same design footprint.

The new device, CGHV40180, is available in flange and pill package styles and designed to optimize performance for radar power amplifiers, as well as military communications applications from 20 to 1000 MHz. These additional applications include very-high frequency (VHF) and UHF public safety radios and UHF tactical radios. At 250 W typical output power, the new device delivers up to 67 percent more continuous wave (CW) power than traditional Si devices in the same size package, providing significantly more signal range for greater detection and discrimination capabilities that are critical to defense and public safety.

The CGHV40180 features the industry’s highest output power in its class with 270 W CW typical output power from 800 to 1000 MHz. Additionally, the device offers low power consumption with 75 percent drain efficiency. GaN HEMTs offer high efficiency, high gain and wide bandwidth capabilities, making the CGHV40180 ideal for linear and compressed amplifier circuits.