It was a crisp spring morning—March 23, 2023. Inside a modest building complex surrounded by leafy trees in Delhi, cheers erupted in a roar before swelling to a crescendo. A group of military scientists were celebrating a moment they had long worked towards. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Indian military scientists, operating in tandem from Delhi and Hyderabad, had achieved a major breakthrough. They had cracked the code to make gallium nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs).
This achievement meant India was no longer dependent on foreign powers for these high-value, cutting-edge chips. Instead, it broke into a select group of six nations—the US, France, Russia, Germany, South Korea, and China. The scene of the celebration was the DRDO’s Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL). The SSPL, which houses a 1,300-square-metre clean room (controlled environment, free from contaminants), was designed for sensitive scientific work. The cheering scientists—in sterilised overalls and caps—resembled characters from a sci-fi movie. Ultra-sophisticated, futuristic-looking instruments and equipment bore silent witness to the moment.
MMICs—also called compound semiconductors, because they combine more than one element—are primarily used for specialised applications. They enable superior performance, higher efficiency, and faster switching speed than silicon. Compound chips are ideal for extreme environments because of greater chemical inertness and stability at high temperatures or voltages, with very low transmission loss.
Apart from GaN chips, gallium arsenide (GaAs) compound chips are also widely used. While both are superior to silicon for high-frequency data transmission, they serve distinct power requirements. GaAs chips—suited for low to moderate power needs and microwave applications—are cost-effective (commonly used in mobile phones and satellites). GaN chips, with their superior electron mobility, are ideal for high-power and high-temperature uses—they can operate at temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. A GaN chip delivering 30 watts is just 3.5mm x 3mm and can switch power 300 times faster than a silicon chip. It is extensively deployed in military platforms—advanced military drones, missiles, radars, fighter aircraft, and naval platforms.
The most significant use of compound chips is in sensors that analyse movement, heat, sound, light, and changes in pressure, and convert the physical parameters into signals. These signals are used to trigger kinetic action, as well as to monitor and measure conditions. As warfare undergoes a paradigm shift—from manned to unmanned platforms, and from dependent systems to autonomous ones capable of making split-second decisions—the role of sensors becomes central. With another technological revolution emerging through artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, the importance of compound chips is set to increase even further. Specific uses include precise navigation, electronic warfare, range finding, night vision and surveillance, camouflage detection, target tracking, missile guidance, and imaging through fog, mist, and clouds—capabilities that are essential in modern warfare.
While Indian scientists developed GaAs semiconductor technology in the 1990s, GaN chips remained elusive until that Thursday morning in 2023. Suma Varughese, director general (Micro Electronic Devices and Computational Systems & Cyber Security), DRDO, told THE WEEK that any delay or denial in access to compound semiconductor chips, particularly those based on GaN, could bring several of India’s ambitious defence programmes to a standstill.
Weeks before March 23, GaN MMICs fabricated at the Gallium Arsenide Enabling Technology Centre (GAETEC) in Hyderabad successfully cleared all functionality tests. The GAETEC is also mandated to advance GaAs technology for high-speed and high-power electronic devices. While the SSPL develops advanced materials and technologies, the GAETEC uses the SSPL’s work to produce MMICs and components. The DRDO and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) use them in next-generation systems.
Meena Mishra, director, SSPL, said the news of the breakthrough resulted in a wave of happiness across the entire SSPL/GAETEC team. “Reaching that point involved a long technology development process,” said Mishra, who has been with the SSPL for 35 years. “The teams have worked day and night to make it happen. One cycle of fabrication and testing takes around 80 days and involves hundreds of processes; each has to be executed to its finest detail. The final run is carried out once optimisation of all processes has been finished.”
In layman’s language, she added, the dough is now ready; India can use it to make any bread of its choice. The push to indigenise compound chip production was initiated by