3DGaN (Gallium Nitride) innovators Finwave Semiconductor, Inc. today announced they have joined MITRE Engenuity’s Semiconductor Alliance. Finwave has answered the group’s call for industry participation to help establish a U.S.-wide approach to protect IP in advanced microelectronics R&D, manufacturing and supply chain resilience.
Led by MITRE Engenuity, the Semiconductor Alliance was developed from working groups in 2021, and its principles were published in a white paper, American Innovation, American Growth, summarizing the Alliance’s whole-of-nation call to action for a fair and objective National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC).
Having been spun out of MIT, Finwave brings a combination of groundbreaking university research, numerous technology patents and accomplished industry professionals with company-building experience to the Alliance. The Semiconductor Alliance has been tasked with addressing semiconductor supply chain issues and ensuring that American IT innovation leads to American growth, and these initiatives align closely with Finwave’s goal to make disruptive 3DGaN FinFET IC technology readily available.
Today, GaN semiconductors are almost exclusively manufactured outside of the U.S. Working with the Semiconductor Alliance, Finwave seeks to change that by stimulating IC manufacturing in the U.S. Finwave champions the building of new fabs, as well as the expansion of existing fabs, to boost American semiconductor research, development and production.
“Our plan calls for radical collaboration to secure semiconductor technology innovation, manufacturing leadership, and supply chain resilience,” said Raj Jammy, Ph.D., chief technologist, MITRE Engenuity, and executive director of the Semiconductor Alliance. “We are excited to welcome Finwave to the Alliance. The company’s plans to increase the economic competitiveness of its innovative GaN technology are exactly the type of forward-thinking ideas we need to revitalize U.S. semiconductor leadership.”
Seeking to address the numerous challenges related to 5G, Finwave’s award-winning 3DGaN FinFET technology combines best-in-class power amplification efficiency with high-volume manufacturing to overcome the performance and cost limitations that have together stymied widespread adoption of mmWave. Finwave significantly improves linearity, output power and efficiency in 5G mmWave systems – while greatly reducing costs for carriers. By leveraging high volume 8” Si CMOS fabs for producing 3DGaN chips, Finwave’s devices benefit from both the cost model and scalability of silicon technology.
“Semiconductor innovation is the key to making critical advances in things like 5G, AI, the Internet of Things and other technologies that benefit society and are shaping the future,” said Bin Lu, CEO of Finwave. “In joining the Alliance’s growing membership, Finwave will have access to high-volume fabs and the lithography requirements necessary to bring our technology to volume production – and unlock the promise of 5G.”