Cree, a leader in gallium nitride (GaN) RF devices, has achieved a major production milestone with its recent accreditation as a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Category 1A Trusted Foundry for its 100mm RF GaN facility in Durham, NC. Granted through the Trusted Access Program Office (TAPO) and the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA), this accreditation is the highest designation awarded by the DoD, and differentiates Cree as a trusted supplier of GaN technology in support of national defense applications.
Category 1A Trusted Foundry accreditation validates that policies and procedures designed to ensure the trustworthiness, integrity and confidentiality of the manufacturing process — including chain of custody, supply continuity and anti-tampering — are securely in place.
“The DoD Trusted Foundry accreditation puts Cree into a select group of trusted manufacturers in the U.S. that are certified to produce both unclassified and classified hardware for DoD programs critical to national defense,” said Jim Milligan, Cree director of RF and microwave products. “This designation ensures that products manufactured at Cree meet the highest standards of secure handling and production control throughout the entire manufacturing process.”
Since 2010, Cree has shipped more than five million MMICs and devices, making it one of the largest U.S. suppliers of advanced GaN technology for both the DoD and commercial markets. During this time, approximately four billion device hours in the field have been accumulated with an associated, industry-leading FIT rate of less than 10 failures per one billion device hours, which validates the outstanding robustness of Cree’s manufacturing process and resultant devices under fielded conditions.
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