Abstract
One of the great success-failure-success stories of the semiconductor era
involves the gallium arsenide integrated circuit. As a laser or light-emitting
device, gallium arsenide, or compounds like gallium arsenide phosphide,
enjoyed steady growth. But the story was different with the IC-and very
uneven. Depending on their product orientation and emphasis, some GaAs
companies saw relatively steady growth; some suffered steep declines, then
recovered; and some died.
GaAs field-effect transistors first appeared in the late 1950s and 1960s. Even
before then, scientists and engineers regarded GaAs as the technology of the
future because of its high electron mobility, thus high-frequency operation
and high switching speed, its resistance to radiation and its light emission.
All through the 1970s, large companies were moving the technology from
research into commercialization. In the United States, companies like the
Rockwell Science Center, Bell Labs, RCA, Hughes, Westinghouse, TRW and most
defense operations had GaAs labs. In Japan, Fujitsu, NEC and Toshiba made GaAs
amplifiers. Almost every major R&D center in the United States, Europe and
Japan had a GaAs effort.
The emphasis was on discrete transistors, most of which found their way into
power circuits or low-noise front ends in commercial communications and
satellite receivers. They were replacing silicon transistors and going into
frequency ranges that silicon couldn't reach.
In the 1970s and more powerfully in the 1980s, the efforts went into
integration, starting with tens of transistors on a chip, then moving up. In
the early- to mid-1980s, when most of today's GaAs leaders and several
failures started, there was enough interest and venture capital to make a
commercial GaAs industry, not just a military-contracts business.
Some of those contracts were by no means trivial. The Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency had great interest in the future of GaAs. Some of
Darpa's research contracts ran upward of $10 million.
The new GaAs companies moved in two separate streams: high-speed switching and
high-frequency communications. The two streams had two main and separate
targets: supercomputers and military, the latter largely concerned with radar
applications and communications. Within each stream, there was further
division, as some companies aimed at greater integration and others focused on
greater speed.
All streams grew into rivers until two events stanched the flow. The fall of
the supercomputer business slammed the digital-IC business, and the fall of
the Berlin Wall and Soviet Union slammed the military analog-IC business.
This report is intended to provide guidance to individuals and companies
directly or indirectly connected with the development of the GaAs device
market. Most importantly, it will give a balanced and independent perspective
on the subject.
It is prepared for:
- GaAs IC and Wafer Suppliers
- GaAs IC and Wafer Users
- Foundry Services
This report investigates the technology trends, applications, and market
developments of GaAs ICs. U.S., Japanese, and European applications such as
telecom, computers, defense, consumers, are reviewed. This report will
provide the reader with an in-depth understanding of the technological and
market factors determining the evolution of GaAs ICs.
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