Nitronex recently closed on $6 million in additional funding from existing investors and named a new chief executive officer…its third since the company was founded in 1999.

The funding comes from Alliance Technology Ventures, TPG Ventures, and VantagePoint Venture Partners. To date, the Raleigh-based spin-off from N.C. State University has raised $50 million in venture capital, with the most recent round of $11.3 million coming last July.

Nitronex, a manufacturer of gallium nitride (GaN) based radio frequency (RF) power transistors, will use the funding to accelerate new product development and sales and marketing activities.

The company also has named Charles Shalvoy as its new chairman and acting CEO, replacing Jack Hillson. The first chief executive of Nitronex was Bob Lynch, a former executive at Cree in Durham.

Shalvoy was most recently president and CEO of Conductus Inc., a manufacturer of superconducting products for wireless networks. Prior to Conductus, he was president and COO of Therma-Wave and throughout his career has held senior management positions with Aehr Test Systems, Emerson Electric Corp. and Raychem Corp.

“Shalvoy brings tremendous CEO experience to the Nitronex team,” said Michael Slawson of Alliance Technology Ventures in Atlanta. “We are delighted to have him on-board to lead the Company through its next growth phase.”

The company’s patented GaN on silicon technology has many applications, including next generation wireless and LEDs, military communications, and automotive electronics. Nitronex says it expects to introduce new power transistor products for power amplifier and base station equipment manufacturers later this year.

“I am excited about the opportunities at Nitronex as we begin to see customer adoption of the technology in many large, rapidly growing markets,” commented Shalvoy. “We believe our GaN on silicon technology can provide significant performance and cost advantages in a number of markets and we expect to introduce our first power transistor products for the wireless market later this year.”

Nitronex: www.nitronex.com