Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center client RF Pyramids has received a $100,000 Technology Development Program award from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to develop its Optimized RF Transistor device.
This technology will offer enhanced performance for electronic systems, boost thermal management, and be available in a much smaller dimension than existing options, allowing integration of more transistors on a single electronic microchip.
RF Pyramids Team
Siham Abdel-Naby, CEO of the Fayetteville company, is a software engineer with more than 20 years of experience as an application designer and developer. She leads a partnering team of designers and programmers at the University of Arkansas in the development of user-friendly software packages and simulation tools to analyze high-frequency devices.
Samir M. El-Ghazaly, CTO of RF Pyramids, is a distinguished professor in UA’s Department of Electrical Engineering. Dr. El-Ghazaly has more than three decades of experience in analyzing, simulating, and designing microwave devices and radio-frequency components for millimeter-wave applications.
The company is partnering with researchers from the university’s Department of Electrical Engineering who have done significant leading research around high-speed transistors. The lead UA researchers involved with the prototype fabrication process are Drs. Amirreza Ghadimi Avval and Sara Ghayouraneh.
Avval has been working in the area of RF and microwave engineering for more than eight years, with extensive experience in simulation-related software packages and various numerical techniques. He is the co-inventor on the two patent applications filed based on the proposed transistor design.
Ghayouraneh has been working in the electrical and telecommunications engineering field for more than eight years. Her specialty areas include microwave devices for medical applications, modeling and optimization, and wireless communication systems.
ASBTDC Assistance
RF Pyramids began working with the ASBTDC in 2019. Innovation Specialist Rebecca Todd helped the company prepare its winning TDP application.
“Rebecca Todd of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center has been actively assisting the company with providing data for the market research and helping us prepare applications for different grants since RF Pyramids was established,” said Avval. “Regarding the TDP application, she provided us with the presentation format and information on what needs to be included in the proposal and application form. She reviewed all the documents multiple times and her comments were indeed very helpful in submitting a successful application.”
The Industry Challenge
As electronic technology improves in different areas such as 5G systems, the devices that are the building block of modern electronic systems must be capable of operating at higher speeds without thermal issues that limit system outputs.
“Current transistor technologies have fundamental limitations in delivering the specifications required for various high-speed applications. Additionally, with the new trends towards miniaturization of the systems due to the need for manufacturing lighter, faster, and more sustainable products for electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and other technological devices, transistors that can be realized in smaller dimensions are favorable choices for many industries,” said El-Ghazaly.
The Solution: Optimized RF Transistor
The RF Pyramids team came up with the idea for their Optimized RF Transistor solution at the UA while working on high-frequency transistor modeling and optimization.
Avval shared, “This idea is applicable in many industries that are dealing with high-frequency devices and circuits. The most important applications are related to wireless communication systems, 5G generation mobile networks, and beyond. Our proposed disruptive technology will provide significantly faster operation for these systems along with addressing the thermal management challenges that have been a technology bottleneck for a long time.”
“The team has a lot of experience in working with these circuits and systems and we did know about the challenges faced by the community regarding the high-frequency operation of these systems. Hence, we decided to come up with an optimized solution that addressed limitations of existing solutions,” said Abdel-Naby.
El-Ghazaly explained, “Our proposed innovation addresses the limitations according to some physical phenomena happening in the device. This suggests that we do not require any type of alterations in the machinery for the fabrication process and everything is readily manufacturable with the currently available technologies. Our solution is solving the problem according to some established and robust concepts, so the offered improvements are significant rather than incremental.”
The Optimized RF Transistor will offer up to 2X improvement in the operation speed at a 1.5-2X reduction in device size and provide up to 3X improvement on the heat dissipation capabilities. “These numbers are achieved according to results obtained from simulations of our transistor design. These performance enhancements lead to enabling these devices to meet more stringent performance specifications found in the aerospace and defense applications,” Avval said.
Currently there is a $452 billion market for semiconductor devices and transistor technologies.
Ghayouraneh shared, “Our target customers are electronic chip manufacturers as system integrators. Based on our findings from customer discovery conducted as part of the national I-Corps program, we identified that these companies are highly interested in a transistor technology that provides 20-35 percent improvement without forfeiting other attributes of the device such as its dimensions.”
The TDP Project
“This idea has already been proven by numerous simulations and modeling approaches and now is the time to put everything into practice. During this TDP project, we will have engineers work on the optimization of a commercially available device and submit it for fabrication. This award was granted at the right time to help RF Pyramids have enough funds for proving the proposed idea according to measured data achieved from a fabricated device,” Abdel-Naby said.
Upon successful completion of this project, RF Pyramids will have achieved the milestone of proving the concept of Optimized RF Transistor, which will attract interest from other funding agencies and investors. Once this follow-on funding is secured, RF Pyramids plans to formally partner with multiple chip manufacturing companies.
These efforts will require engineers from different disciplines and business and marketing specialists to build the RF Pyramids’ business unit and help execute a successful plan for ensuring long-term profitability.
Abdel-Naby added, “Our planned partnerships will have a huge and significant economic impact on the state of Arkansas as they will attract new customers and help create more revenue for both sides of this partnership.”
Avval said, “I advise Arkansas companies to seek help from the ASBTDC and Rebecca Todd, as they are one of the best available resources with a lot of experience in helping multiple companies with successful applications for TDP, SBIR, and other grants and awards.”
For more information on the TDP program, visit the AEDC website.
How the Community Can Help
Currently, RF Pyramids has the expertise to work on the R&D plan for the proposed projects. Abdel-Naby shared, “Since RF Pyramids is not yet ready to generate revenue, the availability of funding for providing salaries, equipment purchases, and facility rentals is a matter of utmost importance. Hence, it will be very helpful for us to have access to other funding opportunities similar to the TDP.”
