Qorvo RF Power GaN 3.5 GHz for 5G Massive MIMO

The GaN RF device market is expected to reach over US$2.4 billion by 2026 according to Yole Développement, and major actors are expanding their capacity to respond to this growing market demand. Qorvo ranks #3 among GaN RF players, with a market share of 18.5% in 2020 according to Yole Développement (source: Yole GaN RF report 2021).

Launched more than 20 years ago, GaN-on-SiC is now a serious rival to LDMOS and GaAs in RF power applications. Owing to their high bandwidth and efficiency, GaN-on-SiC devices keep taking share from LDMOS in the 5G market and are starting to benefit from a 6-inch wafer platform transition.

In this dynamic context, System Plus Consulting provides a full reverse costing study of Qorvo’s RF Power GaN QPD0011. It is an asymmetric dual-path power amplifier transistor for Doherty applications with GaN-on-SiC HEMT in a discrete DFN package. It operates from 3.3 to 3.6 GHz and can deliver an average power of 15W in a Doherty configuration.

Supported by a full teardown of the device, this report reveals Qorvo’s technology choices for its assembled device as well as the designs of the different dies inside it.

This report also provides insights into technology data, manufacturing cost, and selling price of the device, as well as an estimated manufacturing cost of all the device’s parts and a selling price analysis.

Included too is a comparison between two analyzed RF power GaN: QPD0011 from Qorvo and A3G35H100-04S from NXP (NXP’s device is analyzed in a separate dedicated reverse costing report). These comparisons highlight differences in the technology and costs.

Lastly, this report furnishes a market forecast of packaged GaN RF devices by technology platform.

Key features of the report:

• Detailed photos
• Precise measurements
• Materials analysis
• Manufacturing process flow
• Supply chain evaluation
• Manufacturing cost analysis
• Technology and cost comparisons between RF power GaN transistors: Qorvo QPD0011 and NXP A3G35H100-04S

Packaged GaN RF Device Market Forecast ($M) – Split by Technology Platform

Physical Analysis       

• Package Analysis
  • Package Opening
  • Package Cross-Section
• Dies Analysis: Views, Dimensions, and Cross-Section
  • Big GaN-on-SiC Transistor
  • Small GaN-on-SiC Transistor
  • Big Capacitor
  • Medium Capacitor
  • Small Capacitor

Physical Comparison

Manufacturing Process 

• Dies Overview
• Wafer Fabrication Unit
• Packaging Fabrication Unit

Cost Analysis

• Main Steps of Economic Analysis
• Yields Explanation
• Yields Hypotheses
• GaN-on-SiC Wafer & Die Cost
  • GaN-on-SiC Wafer Front-End Cost
  • GaN-on-SiC Wafer Cost per Process Steps
  • GaN-on-SiC Die Cost
• Capacitor Wafer & Die Cost
  • Wafer Front-End Cost
  • Wafer Cost per Process Steps
  • Die Cost
• Assembly & Test Cost
  • Component Assembly Cost
  • Component Final Cost

Cost Comparison

Estimation of Selling Price