TriQuint Unveils PowerBand: Revolutionary High Power, Wideband RF Transistors

MILCOM 2008
HILLSBORO, Ore. & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT), a leading RF product manufacturer and foundry services provider, today announced the availability of a revolutionary new high power discrete RF transistor family for broadband applications including radar, signal jammers and wireless communications. TriQuint's new PowerBand™ family was unveiled today at the MILCOM military communications conference and exhibition at the San Diego Convention Center (USA).

PowerBand™1 devices deliver high power performance across an exceptionally wide bandwidth while maintaining very high efficiency. Previous broadband market solutions traded-off performance to achieve relative wide-band service. TriQuint's PowerBand™ innovation achieves unprecedented bandwidth coverage without sacrificing efficiency or other key performance parameters.

"PowerBand changes the wireless equation, creating an opportunity to save a tremendous amount of space, cost and energy. Because PowerBand efficiently delivers high power across unprecedented bandwidth, an RF design may require only one transistor line-up2 instead of several. This fact directly impacts the bill of materials and size of end user products by substantially reducing space dedicated to RF," exclaimed TriQuint President and CEO Ralph Quinsey.

"The incredible performance of PowerBand is the first thing that evaluating engineers recognize as truly outstanding," said Bill McCalpin, PowerBand™ Co-Inventor and General Manager, TriQuint Colorado Design Center. "A traditional high power RF transistor is designed to operate across a narrow frequency range, such as 2.53 - 2.65 GHz. Within that range it delivers power relatively efficiently. But as bandwidth increases, performance falls. PowerBand™ is totally different in its ability to deliver high power—up to 50Watts2—and high efficiency performance – 50 percent PAE, typical3 – across a much wider frequency range, from 500 MHz to 3 GHz."

"PowerBand is disruptive technology, and as such there are sure to be some skeptics," Mr. Quinsey acknowledged. "But the proof is here. We've achieved results that are reproducible and manufacturable."

PowerBand™ devices have been reviewed by companies that require high power broadband RF transistors for their designs including Milpower, Inc., a California-based supplier of RF power systems for defense, military and aerospace contractors.

"PowerBand™ technology is a leap forward for wideband high power RF designs. The improved efficiency and bandwidth will pay system dividends in the form of less PCB area dedicated to RF, longer battery life, the opportunity to reshape end products and reduce size, as well as less need for thermal management," said Dean Schulze, Senior Development Engineer, Milpower, Inc.

Many broadband defense and military programs could benefit from TriQuint's new technology. In typical applications, one PowerBand™ transistor amplifier line-up2 (containing 2-4 devices) covering an entire band could replace three or more traditional transistor amplifier line-ups (containing 2-4 devices). In a typical application, 2-4 PowerBand devices could replace between 6 and 12 conventional RF transistors.

PowerBand™ enables greater efficiency for mobile as well as ground-based RF networks infrastructure applications. In the case of mobile devices, greater efficiency can extend battery life and reduce system over-heating. Efficiency in ground-based systems translates into less waste heat, which can reduce power costs and carbon footprints associated with heat removal while also reducing the amount of equipment dedicated to thermal management. For both mobile and ground-based RF systems, PowerBand™ can reduce BOMs, speed assembly and shrink inventory overhead.

PowerBand™ technology is also incredibly flexible, meaning that it can be applied to most common semiconductor processes that manufacturers use to create RF transistors. PowerBand™ devices can be developed using gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN), as well as RF LDMOS (laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor) technologies.

"The applications of this technology are vast," said Mr. McCalpin. "We encourage anyone who has an interest in the benefits of PowerBand™ technology to talk with us about their application requirements. This innovation can enable new usage models and cost points for a broad range of wireless products."

PowerBand™ devices are on display at MILCOM at the San Diego Convention Center November 17-19. Prototypes and evaluation boards are now available; product delivery is scheduled for the second quarter of 2009. TriQuint's first family of PowerBand™ devices offer output power from 10-50 Watts; operating voltages range from 12-28V and operational frequency ranges from 500 MHz to 3 GHz.

See inside the expansive world of PowerBand™ at www.triquint.com/powerband. Register for PowerBand™ news updates and information on our website, or contact TriQuint by e-mail at: info-powerband@tqs.com for immediate assistance.

TriQuint Semiconductor designs and manufactures a wide range of RF products for networks infrastructure, wireless handsets, defense and aerospace applications. TriQuint is also ranked the world's largest GaAs foundry service and the defense industry's leading foundry provider according to Strategy Analytics' 2008 semiconductor market reports4. Visit us as www.triquint.com for details.

1 Patent Pending, 2008. TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc.

2Radio amplifier designs consist of ‘line-ups'; each line-up contains RF transistors of increasing power; a ‘line-up' includes 2-4 individual RF transistors (typical). Using PowerBand devices to reduce the number of line-ups significantly cuts PC board area dedicated to signal amplification.

3 Documented device performance of E/D pHEMT gallium arsenide (GaAs) PowerBand RF transistor; ask TriQuint for test details.

4 Strategy Analytics, August 2008: GaAs Device Vendor Market Share, North America; GaAs Device Vendor Market Share: Asia-Pacific and Europe.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. (Nasdaq:TQNT) press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. The cautionary statements made in this press release should be read as being applicable to all related statements wherever they appear. Statements containing such words as ‘leading', ‘exceptional', ‘high efficiency', ‘adding value', ‘leading supplier', or similar terms are considered to contain uncertainty and are forward-looking statements. A number of factors affect TriQuint's operating results and could cause its actual future results to differ materially from any results indicated in this press release or in any other forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, TriQuint including, but not limited to: those associated with the unpredictability and volatility of customer acceptance of and demand for our products and technologies, the ability of our production facilities and those of our vendors to meet demand, the ability of our production facilities and those of our vendors to produce products with yields sufficient to maintain profitability, as well as the other "Risk Factors" set forth in TriQuint's most recent 10-Q report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This and other reports can be found on the SEC web site, www.sec.gov. A reader of this release should understand that these and other risks could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations expressed / implied in forward-looking statements.

FACTS ABOUT TRIQUINT

Founded in 1985, we "Connect the Digital World to the Global Network"™ by supplying high-performance RF modules, components and foundry services to the world's leading communications companies. Specifically, TriQuint supplies products to four out of the top five cellular handset manufacturers, and is a leading gallium arsenide (GaAs) supplier to major defense and space contractors. TriQuint creates standard and custom products using advanced processes that include gallium arsenide, surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technologies to serve diverse markets including wireless handsets, base stations, broadband communications and military. TriQuint is also lead researcher in a 3-year DARPA program to develop advanced gallium nitride (GaN) amplifiers. TriQuint, as named by Strategy Analytics in August 2008, is the number-three worldwide leader in GaAs devices and the world's largest commercial GaAs foundry. TriQuint has ISO9001 certified manufacturing facilities in Oregon, Texas, and Florida and a production plant in Costa Rica; design centers are located in North America and Germany. Visit TriQuint at www.triquint.com/rf to register for our newsletters.

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