AFRL Demonstration Leads to World's First Gallium Nitride-on-Diamond Transistor Published May 7, 2007 By Sensors Directorate AFRL/PR WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Working under a cooperative agreement and with support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, engineers from AFRL, Emcore Corporation, and Group4 Labs successfully demonstrated the world's first gallium nitride (GaN)-on-diamond, high-electron-mobility transistor. Applications of this technology, which will dramatically improve the thermal handling properties of GaN-based devices and thus enable efficient and effective heat management of high-power devices, include very-high-power radar and communications. The demonstration proved that functional device layers can survive the atomic attachment process, making these materials a viable solution.