Reliability test-system developer Accel-RF (Poway, CA) announced that it has received an order from the Ferdinand Braun Institute (Berlin, Germany) for its High Power Reliability (HiPR) RF Test System for reliability testing of high-power gallium-nitride (GaN) transistors. The HiPR RF Test System is designed to test the intrinsic reliability of high-power discrete devices and integrated circuits and can be used to evaluate the reliability of pulsed-power amplifiers used in military electronics and MEMS RF switch devices used in communications and sensor systems.
The Ferdinand Braun Institute is one of several organizations in Europe involved in developing high-power GaN devices for military, commercial, and space applications. According to Roland Shaw, president of Accel-RF, "We have already been contacted by other member companies, and expect a high level of interest to 'standardize' on the Accel-RF High Power System for Reliability Testing." European GaN developers are trying to learn from lessons of United States companies on lower-power GaN devices and quickly build high-power GaN device test capabilities. Accel-RF's test systems can stress multiple devices under varying DC, thermal, and RF conditions at frequencies to 18 GHz and bias levels to 100 V and 4 A.