Cardiff-based consortium gains £5.2m funding for SMARTExpertise RF-GaN project

A consortium led by Cardiff University’s Centre for High Frequency Engineering and the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult has won £2.4m in Welsh Government SMARTExpertise funding to develop high-frequency electronic devices for next generation technologies – from 5G and radar to satellite systems. Eleven industrial partners have pledged a further £2.8m of support.

The industry-led project will involve partners in the South Wales compound semiconductor cluster CSConnected, working in chip design, fabrication, waveform-based characterization, testing and production. It will help researchers to develop radio-frequency gallium nitride (RF-GaN) technologies to make high-speed, cost-effective, higher-reliability and smaller chips that outperform traditional silicon.

“Gallium nitride is quickly becoming the technology of choice for many emerging applications, including 5G communications, high-resolution phased-array radars, electronic warfare equipment, automotive collision avoidance radar, healthcare and imaging applications,” says professor Khaled Elgaid, who leads the academic team. “The popularity of GaN stems from the attractive properties the technology exhibits, including high operating voltage and high operational frequency (supporting emerging 5G markets providing high-efficiency telecommunications system, with higher data rate and wider coverage area),” he adds. “In addition, the high power density and excellent thermal performance offers compact designs and operational robustness in hostile environments, including space applications.”

Picture: (Right to left) Education Minister Kirsty Williams AM, Cardiff University president & vice-chancellor professor Colin Riordan and Bouygues UK’s CEO Rob Bradley sign a beam to top out the Translational Research Facility

The funding announcement coincided with a ‘topping out’ ceremony for Cardiff University’s Translational Research Facility (designed by HOK London Studio) that will house researchers and industry involved in compound semiconductor and catalytic science. Wales’ Education Minister Kirsty Williams, Bouygues UK chief executive Rob Bradley and Cardiff University’s vice-chancellor professor Colin Riordan topped out the facility by adding their signatures to a beam on the building’s highest point.

“The program is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Welsh Government and offers financial support to innovative collaboration projects between industry and Welsh research organizations. These collaborative projects address strategic industrial challenges and provide opportunities to commercialize new products, processes or services and growth in key areas,” notes Williams.

“The SMARTExpertise RF-GaN award perfectly complements the topping out of our state-of-the-art Translational Research Facility,” says Riordan. “The building and the project are devoted to working with industry to unlock the power of research.”

Cardiff University is a founding member of CSConnected – a cluster of compound semiconductor expertise across South Wales that brings together academic, industry and supply-chain partners.

The university has developed the Institute for Compound Semiconductors (ICS) – to be based within the TRF - and founded the Compound Semiconductor Centre (CSC), a joint venture with epiwafer foundry and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK to help translate compound semiconductor academic expertise into job creation with industry.

Cardiff University’s School of Engineering will work alongside the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult (CSA Catapult) and ICS to deliver the project.

“The CS Cluster has the opportunity to deliver a substantive project that will fill gaps identified in GaN RF devices across the UK supply chain,” says Dr Tudor Williams, head of RF & Microwave at CSA Catapult. “The SMARTExpertise project has a strong consortium with end users in defence and consumer markets driving a tailored technology development,” he adds. “SMART Expertise will be a catalyst for future projects and activities, leading to tangible economic benefits for both Wales and the UK.”

See related items:

ASSET project gains £1.3m in Welsh Government funding

CSC, CST Global and Swansea University collaborative projects win ERDF funding

Tags: CSC

Visit: www.csa.catapult.org.uk