Gabriele Formicone
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Phone: 480-940-1036
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Mail code: 5706Campus: Tempe
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Gabriele Formicone is currently a faculty associate in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University. His research interests span the broad area of solid-state RF and Microwave power amplifiers for communications, avionics, radars, defense and security applications.
He graduated in physics at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy and earned a master's degree and doctorate in electrical engineering at Arizona State University, USA. For almost 20 years he has worked on RF & Microwave semiconductor power devices and high power amplifier circuits for wireless communications and radar technology. His career in the industry has been with Motorola/Freescale first, and then with Integra Technologies, Inc.
Formicone also enjoys teaching and he was adjunct faculty at Mesa Community College (AZ) from 2002 to 2008.
- Certificate: Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Arizona State University 2009
- Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University 2001
- M.S. Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University 1996
- Laurea. Physics, University of Rome "La Sapienza," Italy 1994
Dr. Formicone has hands-on experience in silicon RF & Microwave power transistor technologies such BJT, VDMOS and LDMOS, and GaN HEMT technology. His R&D activities have involved TCAD simulations, modeling (MATLAB), circuit simulations (SPICE), Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) solution of Maxwell equations, VLSI layout design, CMOS silicon processing, GaAs and GaN processing, process integration, power amplifier characterization, integrated circuits and hybrid RF modules.
Dr. Formicone research interests span the broad area of solid-state RF & Microwave power amplifiers for communications, avionics, radars, defense and security applications.
High efficiency solid-state power amplifiers are also relevant in sustainability and green technologies, automotive, as well as in harsh environment electronics such as high temperature and high radiation environments. Wide-Band-Gap (WBG) semiconductor components such as Gallium Nitride (GaN) based transistors enable operation at high temperature, and are ideal in high radiation environments, like space.
Most of the research and development activities Dr. Formicone has been involved with in the industry have focused on power transistors designed for high efficiency, high power, broadband RF & Microwave amplifiers targeting the following applications: radar imaging (SAR) from spacecrafts, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or potentially cubesats, weather radars, ship-borne radar, avionics transponders, air-traffic control (ATC) ground based radar technology and ground-penetrating or subsurface imaging radars.
Other areas of research interest include satellite communications, wireless communications and networks, power devices and circuits for Industrial, Medical and Scientific (ISM) instrumentation and applications, ultrafast power switching, and solid-state electronics in general.
Dr. Formicone is part-time faculty associate at Arizona State University, therefore all his research activity is NOT affiliated with Arizona State University. On the other hand, as an active practitioner in the semicondcutor RF & Microwave power electronics, Dr. Formicone is currently involved in several R&D activities affiliated with Integra Technologies, Inc.
In particluar, Dr. Formicone is Principal Investigator in SBIR Phase I awards from NASA and the Department of Energy.
NASA PROPOSAL NUMBER: 171 S1.02-8426
SUBTOPIC TITLE:Technologies for Active Microwave Remote Sensing
PROPOSAL TITLE: A High Efficiency 400W GaN Amplifier for X-Band Radar Remote Sensing Using >50 VDC FETs
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Gabriele Formicone
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DOE PROPOSAL NUMBER: HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS - 24b
SUBTOPIC TITLE: RADIO FREQUENCY ACCELERATOR TECHNOLOGY
PROPOSAL TITLE: Solid-State Ultra-High Power Amplifier Modules Based on 100 V RF GaN Technology for LINACS Operating at 325 and 650 MHz
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Gabriele Formicone
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In the past, he was Lead Semiconductor Scientist in another NASA SBIR award for Phase I and Phase II.
PROPOSAL NUMBER:12-2 S1.02-9058
PHASE 1 CONTRACT NUMBER: NNX13CP16P
SUBTOPIC TITLE: Microwave Technologies for Remote Sensing
PROPOSAL TITLE: A High Efficiency 1kWatt GaN Amplifier for P-Band Pulsed Applications
Lead Semiconductor Scientist: Dr. Gabriele Formicone
1) G. F. Formicone, D. Vasileska and D. K. Ferry, 2D Monte Carlo Simulation of Hole and Electron Transport in Strained Si, Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Comp. Electronics, 1996.
2) G. F. Formicone, D. Vasileska and D. K. Ferry, Transport in the Surface Channel of Strained Si on a Relaxed Si1-xGex Substrate, Solid State Electronics 41, pp. 879-885, 1997.
3) G. F. Formicone, D. Vasileska and D. K. Ferry, Modeling of Submicron Si1-xGex based MOSFETs by Self-Consistent Monte Carlo Simulation, Phys. Status Solidi (b) 204, pp. 531-533, 1997.
4) D. Vasileska , G. F. Formicone and D. K. Ferry, Doping Dependence of the Mobility Enhancement in Surface-Channel Strained-Si Layer, Proceedings of the Silicon Nanoelectronics Workshop, 1998.
5) D. K. Ferry, D. Vasileska and G. F. Formicone, Carrier Transport and Velocity Overshoot in Strained Si on Si1-xGex Heterostructures, Material Research Society Spring meetings, special Symposium on Epitaxy and Applications of Si-based Heterostructures, April 13-15, 1998.
6) M. Saraniti, G. Zandler, G. F. Formicone, S. Wiggler and S. Goodnick, Cellular Automata Simulation of nm-scale MOSFETs, Semiconductor Science and Technology, 1997.
7) M. Saraniti, G. Zandler, G. F. Formicone and S. Goodnick, Cellular Automata Studies of Vertical Silicon Devices, Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Comp. Electronics, 1997.
8) Formicone, G.F., Saraniti, M., Vasileska, D.Z., Ferry, D.K.; Study of a 50 nm nMOSFET by ensemble Monte Carlo simulation including a new approach to surface roughness and impurity scattering in the Si inversion layer, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Volume 49, Issue 1, Jan. 2002 pp: 125–132
9) Formicone, G.F., Saraniti M., Ferry, D.K.; On the electron transient response in a 50nm MOSFET by Ensemble Monte Carlo Simulation in presence of the smoothed potential algorithm, Journal of Computational Electronics, vol. 1, pp 251-255, 2002.
10) Burger, W., Ma, G., Dragon, C.; Formicone, G., Pryor, B., Ren, X., RF-LDMOS: A silicon-Based, High Power, High Efficiency Linear Power Amplifier Technology, 2000 International Conference on Gallium-Arsenide MANufacturing TECHnology (MANTECH).
11) Brech, H.; Brakensiek, W.; Burdeaux, D.; Burger, W.; Dragon, C.; Formicone, G.; Pryor, B.; Rice, D.; Record efficiency and gain at 2.1 GHz of high power RF transistors for cellular and 3G base stations, IEDM '03 Technical Digest. 8-10 Dec. 2003
12) Burger, W., Brech, H., Burdeaux, D., Dragon, C.; Formicone, G., Honan, M., Pryor, B., Ren, X.; RF-LDMOS: a device technology for high power RF infrastructure applications; IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium, 2004.
13) Formicone, G.F.; Burger, W.; Pryor, B.; Analysis of distributed multi-finger high-power transistors using the FDTD method, IEEE MTT-IMS2005, Long Beach, CA, USA
14) Johnston JA, Formicone G, Hamm TM, Santello M.; Assessment of across-muscle coherence using multi- vs. single- unit recordings, Exp Brain Res. 2010 Dec; 207(3-4):269-82. doi: 10.1007/s00221-010-2455-4. Epub 2010 Nov 3.
15) Santello, M, Formicone, G; Johnston, JA; Hamm, TH; Assessment of across-muscle coherence using multi- vs. single- unit signals, Soc. Neurosci. Abst. 399.3 (2005).
16) Formicone, G.F.; Boueri, F.; Burger, J.; Cheng, W.; Kim, Y.; Titizian, J.; RF LDMOS Power Transistor Technology for Pulsed L-band Transmitters, white paper published in www.rfglobalnet.com.
17) Formicone, G.F.; Boueri, F.; Burger, J.; Cheng, W.; Kim, Y.; Titizian, J.; Analysis of Bias Effects on VSWR Ruggedness in RF LDMOS for Avionics Applications, European Microwave Week, 2008, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
18) Formicone, G.F.; et al.; Reduced Bias Depolarization Effects in Pulse Operated AlGaN/GaN HEMT on Silicon, RADCOM-2011, Hamburg, Germany.
19) Formicone, G.F.; et al.; A 130W LDMOS for 2.7-3.5GHz Broadband Radar Applications, European Microwave Week, 2011, Manchester, UK.
20) J. Walker, G Formicone, F. Boueri, B. Battaglia; A 1-KW S-Band GaN Radar Transistor, IEEE COMCAS-2013, Israel.
21) J. Custer, G Formicone; High Efficiency Switch Mode GaN-based Power Amplifiers for P-Band Aerospace Applications, IEEE Aerospace Conference-2014, Montana, USA.
22) G Formicone, J. Custer; Mixed-Mode Class E-F-1 High Efficiency GaN Power Amplifiers for P-Band Space Applications, IEEE MTT-IMS2015, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
23) G Formicone, J. Custer; Analysis of a GaN/SiC UHF Radar Power Amplifier for Operation at 125V Bias, European Microwave Week, 2015, Paris, France.
24) G Formicone; RF Burn-in Analysis of 100V P-Band Aerospace GaN Radar Transistors, IEEE Aerospace Conference-2016, Montana, USA.
25) G Formicone et al.; Targeting Radar with 150V RF GaN HEMTs, Compound Semiconductor Magazine - March 2016, volume 22, issue 2.
26) G. Formicone, Thermal Analysis of 100V GaN RF Transistors for CW High Power ISM Applications, talk at IMAPS / RaMP, San Diego, March 2016
27) J. Custer, G. Formicone and J. L.B. Walker; Recent Advances in kW-level Pulsed GaN Transistors with Very High Efficiency, MRW2016 (International Conference on Microwave, Radar and Wireless Communications, Krakow, Poland, 2016).
28) G. Formicone et al.; Quest for Vacuum Tubes’ Replacement: 150V UHF GaN Radar Transistor, European Microwave Week, 2016, London, UK
29) G. Formicone et al.; Solid-State RF Power Amplifiers for ISM CW Applications Based on 100V GaN Technology, European Microwave Week, 2016, London, UK
30) G. Formicone et al. 150 V-Bias RF GaN for 1 kW UHF Radar Amplifiers, IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium, 2016, Austin, TX, USA.
31) G. Formicone et al.; A UHF 1-kW Solid-State Power Amplifier for Spaceborne SAR, IEEE / MTT-S PAWR-2017, Phoenix, AZ, USA
32) G. Formicone et al.; A GaN Power Amplifier for 100 VDC Bus in GPS L-band, IEEE / MTT-S PAWR-2017, Phoenix, AZ, USA
33) G. Formicone, J. Custer, and J. Burger; First Demonstration of a GaN-SiC RF Technology Operating Above 100 V in S-band; CS-MANTECH 2017, Indian Wells, CA, USA
34) F. Trevisan; A. Raffo; G. Bosi; V. Vadalà; G. Vannini; G. Formicone; J.Burger; J. Custer; 75-VDC GaN technology investigation from a degradation perspective; 2017 International Workshop on Integrated Nonlinear Microwave and Millimetre-Wave Circuits (INMMiC) April 20-21, 2017, Graz, Austria
35) G. Formicone et al.; Revisiting Power vs. Bandwidth in Broadband CW Amplifiers by Exploring 100 V Bias Operation, European Microwave Week, 2017, Nuremberg, Germany
36) G. Bosi, A. Raffo, V. Vadalà, F. Trevisan, G. Formicone, J. Burger, J. Custer, G. Vannini; Evaluation of High Voltage Transistor Reliability Under Nonlinear Dynamic Operation; European Microwave Week, 2017, Nuremberg, Germany
The following link is to a presentation given at the local IEEE Phoenix Chapter meeting on September 15, 2016.
http://sites.ieee.org/phoenix-wad/files/2016/10/IEEE_WADS_public_ITI_9-…
The presentation summarizes the research work carried out within the scope of a NASA sponsored SBIR grant award where Dr. Formicone started exploring GaN HEMT transistors capable of operating above industry standard of 28 V and 50V, and its implemetation in RF power transmitters for synthetic aperture radar imaging in remote sensing applications.
Courses
2024 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 352 | Properties Electronic Material |
EEE 352 | Properties Electronic Material |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
2023 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 352 | Properties Electronic Material |
EEE 352 | Properties Electronic Material |
2022 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 352 | Properties Electronic Material |
EEE 352 | Properties Electronic Material |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 202 | Circuits I |
2021 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 352 | Properties Electronic Material |
EEE 352 | Properties Electronic Material |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 202 | Circuits I |
EEE 202 | Circuits I |
2020 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
EEE 241 | Fundamentals Electromagnetics |
IEEE Senior Member
1/06 to present Director of Technology and Innovation
Integra Technologies, Inc., www.integratech.com
5/15 to present Faculty Associate, Arizona State University, EE Dept.
8/02 to 12/08 Adjunct Faculty, Mesa Community College
6/97 to 12/05 TCAD Device Simulation/Modeling Lead Engineer
Freescale Semiconductors (now NXP Semiconductors), Chandler, AZ, USA
8/94 to6/97 Research Assistant, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
1/06 to present Director of Technology and Innovation
Integra Technologies, Inc., www.integratech.com
6/97 to 12/05 TCAD Device Simulation/Modeling Lead Engineer
Freescale Semiconductors (now NXP), Tempe, AZ, USA