Accel-RF Wins Phase II SBIR with The Air Force Research Laboratory

SAN DIEGO - Nov. 7, 2018 - PRLog -- Accel-RF Wins Phase II SBIR with The Air Force Research Laboratory to Complete a Millimeter-Wave Accelerated Life Test System

         Accel-RF (http://www.accelrf.com/) has won a follow-on contract with The Air Force Research Laboratory through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The phase II SBIR will continue development efforts for millimeter-wave accelerated life test systems and span 27 months, from September 2018 – December 2020. The object of the Phase II effort is to demonstrate a system platform capable of performing end-of-life (EOL) reliability analysis on multiple individual test devices at V- and W-band frequencies.

"AFRL continues to be a strong advocate for advancing development of state-of-the-art reliability and performance-degradation testing on semiconductor technologies used in cutting-edge system applications. Reliability testing of evolving semiconductor technologies is difficult enough, but reliability testing of a significant sample size of discrete devices or MMICs from DC through millimeter-wave frequencies and at controlled channel-temperatures for thousands of hours, compounds the problem exponentially", says Roland Shaw, President and co-founder of Accel-RF.

"We anticipate the result of this development and collaboration will significantly improve the capability of manufacturers, system designers, and end-users to measure, quantify, and improve reliability predictions for Wide Band-Gap devices such as Gallium-Nitride (GaN) at millimeter-wave frequencies.  The commercial markets that this equipment will support include: automotive short- and long-range radar, automotive vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, Gbps WLAN, and 5G mobility short-range communication, and numerous industrial sensor networks.   The primary goal is to increase confidence levels in long-term reliability for a wide range of semiconductor technologies as quickly as possible", concludes Shaw.

Under the new contract Accel-RF will develop, design, and produce a test system breadboard capable of performing Arrhenius-type reliability prediction measurements at high temperatures (≥250⁰C) on a group of devices at V-band and W-band. The Phase II work will also investigate packaging and MMIC mounting processes used at these high frequencies in order to develop a robust, extremely high temperature manufacturing capability.

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Accel-RF Instruments Corporation (https://www.accelrf.com/about-accel-rf/) is the world leader in supplying equipment for performing high temperature, long duration reliability testing on compound semiconductors, such as Gallium-Nitride (GaN) and Silicon-Carbide (SiC). These platforms are capable of identifying device wear-out and performance degradation to end-of-life (EOL) expectations, usually measured in millions of hours. Accel-RF's test equipment has enabled the successful technology development, product launch, and industry adoption of GaN transistors and MMICs into the space, military, and commercial wireless markets.

Accel-RF Instruments Corp.
4380 Viewridge Ave. Suite D
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 278-2074
www.accelrf.com