DC, RF, and microwave noise performances of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on sapphire substrates

High-performance AlGaN/GaN high electron-mobility transistors with 0.18-/spl mu/m gate length have been fabricated on a sapphire substrate. The devices exhibited an extrinsic transconductance of 212 mS/mm, a unity current gain cutoff frequency (f/sub T/) of 101 GHz, and a maximum oscillation frequency (f/sub MAX/) of 140 GHz. At V/sub ds/=4 V and I/sub ds/=39.4 mA/mm, the devices exhibited a minimum noise figure (NF/sub min/) of 0.48 dB and an associated gain (Ga) of 11.16 dB at 12 GHz. Also, at a fixed drain bias of 4 V with the drain current swept, the lowest NFmin of 0.48 dB at 12 GHz was obtained at I/sub ds/=40 mA/mm, and a peak G/sub a/ of 11.71 dB at 12 GHz was obtained at I/sub ds/=60 mA/mm. With the drain current held at 40 mA/mm and drain bias swept, the NF/sub min/,, increased almost linearly with the increase of drain bias. Meanwhile, the Ga values decreased linearly with the increase of drain bias. At a fixed bias condition (V/sub ds/=4 V and I/sub ds/=40 mA/mm), the NF/sub min/ values at 12 GHz increased from 0.32 dB at -55/spl deg/C to 2.78 dB at 200/spl deg/C. To our knowledge, these data represent the highest f/sub T/ and f/sub MAX/, and the best microwave noise performance of any GaN-based FETs on sapphire substrates ever reported.     

High microwave and noise performance of 0.17-/spl mu/m AlGaN-GaN HEMTs on high-resistivity silicon substrates

AlGaN-GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) based on high-resistivity silicon substrate with a 0.17-/spl mu/m T-shape gate length are fabricated. The device exhibits a high drain current density of 550 mA/mm at V/sub GS/=1 V and V/sub DS/=10 V with an intrinsic transconductance (g/sub m/) of 215 mS/mm. A unity current gain cutoff frequency (f/sub t/) of 46 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency (f/sub max/) of 92 GHz are measured at V/sub DS/=10 V and I/sub DS/=171 mA/mm. The radio-frequency microwave noise performance of the device is obtained at 10 GHz for different drain currents. At V/sub DS/=10 V and I/sub DS/=92 mA/mm, the device exhibits a minimum-noise figure (NF/sub min/) of 1.1 dB and an associated gain (G/sub ass/) of 12 dB. To our knowledge, these results are the best f/sub t/, f/sub max/ and microwave noise performance ever reported on GaN HEMT grown on Silicon substrate.     

Al/sub 0.25/Ga/sub 0.75/As/In/sub 0.25/Ga/sub 0.75/As pseudomorphic MODFET with high DC and RF performance

AlGaAs/InGaAs MODFETs having 25% indium in the channel and L/sub G/=0.35 mu m have been fabricated. From DC device characterisation, a maximum saturation current of 670 mA/mm and an extrinsic transconductance of 500 mS/mm have been measured. A maximum unilateral gain cutoff frequency of f/sub c/=205 GHz and a maximum current gain cutoff frequency of f/sub T/=86 GHz have been achieved. Bias dependence of f/sub c/ and f/sub T/ has been measured. At 12 GHz a minimum noise figure of NF=0.8 dB and an associated gain of 11 dB have been measured.<>     

50-nm T-Gate InAlAs/InGaAs Metamorphic HEMTs With Low Noise and High fT Characteristics

We report 50-nm T-gate metamorphic high-electron mobility transistors (MHEMTs) with low noise figure and high characteristics. The 30 mumtimes2 MHEMT shows a drain current density of 690 mA/mm, a g_m,max of 1270 mS/mm, an f_T of 489 GHz, and an of 422 GHz. In the frequency range of 59-61 GHz, the noise figure is less than 0.7 dB, and the associated gain was greater than 9 dB at a drain voltage of 1.3 V and a gate voltage of -0.8 V. To our knowledge, the MHEMT shows the best performance in terms of and noise figure among GaAs-based HEMTs.     

AlGaN-GaN HEMTs on Si with power density performance of 1.9 W/mm at 10 GHz

AlGaN-GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on silicon substrate are fabricated. The device with a gate length of 0.3-/spl mu/m and a total gate periphery of 300 /spl mu/m, exhibits a maximum drain current density of 925 mA/mm at V/sub GS/=0 V and V/sub DS/=5 V with an extrinsic transconductance (g/sub m/) of about 250 mS/mm. At 10 GHz, an output power density of 1.9 W/mm associated to a power-added efficiency of 18% and a linear gain of 16 dB are achieved at a drain bias of 30 V. To our knowledge, these power results represent the highest output power density ever reported at this frequency on GaN HEMT grown on silicon substrates.     

60 GHz low-noise high-electron-mobility transistors

The noise performance of 0.25 ?m-gate-length high-electron-mobility transistors at frequencies up to 62 GHz is reported. A room-temperature extrinsic transconductance gm of 480 mS/mm and a maximum frequency of oscillation fmax of 135 GHz are obtained for these transistors. At 30 and 40 GHz the devices exhibit minimum noise figures of 1.5 and 1.8 dB with associated gains of 10.0 and 7.5 dB, respectively. A minimum noise figure as low as 2.7 dB with an associated gain of 3.8 dB has also been measured at 62 GHz. This is the best noise performance ever reported for HEMTs at millimetre-wave frequencies. The results clearly demonstrate the potential of short-gate-length high-electron-mobility transistors for very low-noise applications for frequencies at least up to V-band.     

Direct ion-implanted 0.12 μm GaAs MESFET with ft of121 GHz and fmax of 160 GHz

An 0.12 μm gate length direct ion-implanted GaAs MESFET exhibiting excellent DC and microwave characteristics has been developed. By using a shallow implant schedule to form a highly-doped channel and an AsH₃ overpressure annealing system to optimize the shallow dopant profile, the GaAs MESFET performance was further improved. Peak transconductance of 500 mS/mm was obtained at I_ds =380 mA/mm. A noise figure of 0.9 dB with associated gain of 8.9 dB were achieved at 18 GHz. The current gain cutoff frequency f_max of 160 GHz indicates the suitability of this 0.12 μm T-gate device for millimeter-wave IC applications     

AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on SiC with f/sub T/ of over 120 GHz

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on semi-insulating SiC substrates with a 0.12 /spl mu/m gate length have been fabricated. These 0.12-/spl mu/m gate-length devices exhibited maximum drain current density as high as 1.23 A/mm and peak extrinsic transconductance of 314 mS/mm. The threshold voltage was -5.2 V. A unity current gain cutoff frequency (f/sub T/) of 121 GHz and maximum frequency of oscillation (f/sub max/) of 162 GHz were measured on these devices. These f/sub T/ and f/sub max/ values are the highest ever reported values for GaN-based HEMTs.     

Very high gain millimeter-wave InAlAs/InGaAs/GaAs metamorphicHEMT's

We report the first demonstration of W-band metamorphic HEMTs/LNA MMICs using an AlGaAsSb lattice strain relief buffer layer on a GaAs substrate. 0.1×50 μm low-noise devices have shown typical extrinsic transconductance of 850 mS/mm with high maximum drain current of 700 mA/mm and gate-drain breakdown voltage of 4.5 V. Small-signal S-parameter measurements performed on the 0.1-μm devices exhibited an excellent f_T of 225 GHz and maximum stable gain (MSG) of 12.9 dB at 60 GHz and 10.4 dB at 110 GHz. The three-stage W-band LNA MMIC exhibits 4.2 dB noise figure with 18 dB gain at 82 GHz and 4.8 dB noise figure with 14 dB gain at 89 GHz, The gain and noise performance of the metamorphic HEMT technology is very close to that of the InP-based HEMT     

DC and RF Characteristics of 0.15 pm Power Metamorphic HEMTs

DC and RF characteristics of 0.15 °m GaAs power metamorphic high electron mobility transistors (MHEMT) have been investigated. The 0.15 °m ° 100 °m MHEMT device shows a drain saturation current of 480 mA/mm, an extrinsic transconductance of 830 mS/mm, and a threshold voltage of ‐0.65 V. Uniformities of the threshold voltage and the maximum extrinsic transconductance across a 4‐inch wafer were 8.3% and 5.1%, respectively. The obtained cut‐off frequency and maximum frequency of oscillation are 141 GHz and 243 GHz, respectively. The 8 ° 50 °m MHEMT device shows 33.2% power‐added efficiency, an 18.1 dB power gain, and a 28.2 mW output power. A very low minimum noise figure of 0.79 dB and an associated gain of 10.56 dB at 26 GHz are obtained for the power MHEMT with an indium content of 53% in the InGaAs channel. This excellent noise characteristic is attributed to the drastic reduction of gate resistance by the T‐shaped gate with a wide head and improved device performance. This power MHEMT technology can be used toward 77 GHz band applications.     

Diamond FET using high-quality polycrystalline diamond with f/sub T/ of 45 GHz and f/sub max/ of 120 GHz

Using high-quality polycrystalline chemical-vapor-deposited diamond films with large grains (/spl sim/100 /spl mu/m), field effect transistors (FETs) with gate lengths of 0.1 /spl mu/m were fabricated. From the RF characteristics, the maximum transition frequency f/sub T/ and the maximum frequency of oscillation f/sub max/ were /spl sim/ 45 and /spl sim/ 120 GHz, respectively. The f/sub T/ and f/sub max/ values are much higher than the highest values for single-crystalline diamond FETs. The dc characteristics of the FET showed a drain-current density I/sub DS/ of 550 mA/mm at gate-source voltage V/sub GS/ of -3.5 V and a maximum transconductance g/sub m/ of 143 mS/mm at drain voltage V/sub DS/ of -8 V. These results indicate that the high-quality polycrystalline diamond film, whose maximum size is 4 in at present, is a most promising substrate for diamond electronic devices.     

0.3 dB minimum noise figure at 2.5 GHz of 0.13 μm Si/Si0.58Ge0.42 n-MODFETs

RF and microwave noise performances of strained Si/Si_0.58 Ge_0.42 n-MODFETs are presented for the first time. The 0.13 μm gate devices have de-embedded f_T=49 GHz, f_max =70 GHz and a record intrinsic g_m=700 mS/mm. A de-embedded minimum noise figure NF_min=0.3 dB with a 41 Ω noise resistance R_n and a 19 dB associated gain G_ass are obtained at 2.5 GHz, while NF_min=2.0 dB with G_ass=10 dB at 18 GHz. The noise parameters measured up to 18 GHz and from 10 to 180 mA/mm with high gain and low power dissipation show the potential of SiGe MODFETs for mobile communications     

Low-noise metamorphic HEMTs with reflowed 0.1-/spl mu/m T-gate

A 0.1-/spl mu/m T-gate fabricated using e-beam lithography and thermally reflow process was developed and applied to the manufacture of the low-noise metamorphic high electron-mobility transistors (MHEMTs). The T-gate developed using the thermally reflowed e-beam resist technique had a gate length of 0.1 /spl mu/m and compatible with the MHEMT fabrication process. The MHEMT manufactured demonstrates a cutoff frequency f/sub T/ of 154 GHz and a maximum frequency f/sub max/ of 300 GHz. The noise figure for the 160 /spl mu/m gate-width device is less than 1 dB and the associated gain is up to 14 dB at 18 GHz. This is the first report of a 0.1 /spl mu/m MHEMT device manufactured using the reflowed e-beam resist process for T-gate formation.     

Improved DC and RF performance in Si/SiGe n-MODFETs with ion-implanted buried p-well doping

The dc and RF characteristics of Si/SiGe n-MODFETs with buried p-well doping incorporated by ion implantation are reported. At a drain-to-source biasV/sub ds/ of +1 V devices with 140-nm gate length had peak transconductance g/sub m/ of 450 mS/mm, and maximum dc voltage gain A/sub v/ of 20. These devices also had "off-state" drain current I/sub off/ of 0.15 mA/mm at V/sub g/=-0.5 V. Control devices without p-well doping had A/sub v/=8.1 and I/sub off/=13 mA/mm under the same bias conditions. MODFETs with p-well doping had f/sub T/ as high as 72 GHz at V/sub ds/=+1.2 V. These devices also achieved f/sub T/ of 30 GHz at a drain current, I/sub d/, of only 9.8 mA/mm, compared to I/sub d/=30 mA/mm for previously published MODFETs with no p-well doping and similar peak f/sub T/.     

60-GHz high power performance In/sub 0.35/Al/sub 0.65/As-In/sub 0-35/Ga/sub 0.65/As metamorphic HEMTs on GaAs

We report on a double-pulse doped, double recess In/sub 0.35/Al/sub 0.65/As-In/sub 0.35/Ga/sub 0.65/As metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (MHEMT) on GaAs substrate. This 0.15-/spl mu/m gate MHEMT exhibits excellent de characteristics, high current density of 750 mA/mm, extrinsic transconductance of 700 mS/mm. The on and off state breakdown are respectively of 5 and 13 V and defined It gate current density of 1 mA/mm. Power measurements at 60 GHz were performed on these devices. Biased between 2 and 5 V, they demonstrated a maximum output power of 390 mW/mm at 3.1 V of drain voltage with 2.8 dB power gain and a power added efficiency (PAE) of 18%. The output power at 1 dB gain compression is still of 300 mW/mm. Moreover, the linear power gain is of 5.2 dB. This is to our knowledge the best output power density of any MHEMT reported at this frequency.     

Microwave performance of 0.4 mu m gate metamorphic In/sub 0.29/Al/sub 0.71/As/In/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As HEMT on GaAs substrate

MBE grown metamorphic In/sub 0.29/Al/sub 0.71/As/In/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As/GaAs high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have been successfully fabricated. A 0.4 mu m triangular gate device showed transconductance as high as 700 mS/mm at a current density of 230 mA/mm. The measured f/sub T/ was 45 GHz and f/sub max/ was 115 GHz. These high values are, to the authors knowledge, the first reported for submicrometre metamorphic InAlAs/InGaAs/GaAs HEMTs with an indium content of 30%.<>     

547-GHz f/sub t/ In/sub 0.7/Ga/sub 0.3/As-In/sub 0.52/Al/sub 0.48/As HEMTs with reduced source and drain resistance

We fabricated 30-nm gate pseudomorphic channel In/sub 0.7/Ga/sub 0.3/As-In/sub 0.52/Al/sub 0.48/As high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with reduced source and drain parasitic resistances. A multilayer cap structure consisting of Si highly doped n/sup +/-InGaAs and n/sup +/-InP layers was used to reduce these resistances while enabling reproducible 30-nm gate process. The HEMTs also had a laterally scaled gate-recess that effectively enhanced electron velocity, and an adequately long gate-channel distance of 12nm to suppress gate leakage current. The transconductance (g/sub m/) reached 1.5 S/mm, and the off-state breakdown voltage (BV/sub gd/) defined at a gate current of -1 mA/mm was -3.0 V. An extremely high current gain cutoff frequency (f/sub t/) of 547 GHz and a simultaneous maximum oscillation frequency (f/sub max/) of 400 GHz were achieved: the best performance yet reported for any transistor.     

Fabrication and characterization of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with high power gain and efficiency at 8 GHz

State-of-the-art AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility structures were grown on semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrates by MOCVD and X-band microwave power high electron mobility transistors were fabricated and characterized.Hall mobility of 2291.1 cm2/(V·s) and two-dimensional electron gas density of 9.954 × 1012 cm-2 were achieved at 300 K.The HEMT devices with a 0.45-μm gate length exhibited maximum drain current density as high as 1039.6 mA/mm and peak extrinsic transconduct-ance of 229.7 mS/mm.The fT of 30.89 GHz and fmax of 38.71 GHz were measured on the device.Load-pull measurements were performed and analyzed under (-3.5,28) V,(-3.5,34) V and (-3.5,40) V gate/drain direct current bias in class-AB,respectively.The uncooled device showed high linear power gain of 17.04 dB and high power-added efficiency of 50.56％ at 8 GHz when drain biased at (-3.5,28) V.In addition,when drain biased at (-3.5,40) V,the device exhibited a saturation output power dens-ity up to 6.21 W/mm at 8 GHz,with a power gain of 11.94 dB and a power-added efficiency of 39.56％.Furthermore,the low fmax/fT ratio and the variation of the power sweep of the device at 8 GHz with drain bias voltage were analyzed.     

94 GHz low-noise HEMT

A high-performance 0.1 mu m gate-length, AlGaAs/GaInAs/GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor has been successfully developed. The device exhibits a minimum noise figure as low as 3.0 dB with an associated gain of 5.1 dB at 94 GHz. This is the first low-noise operation of transistors at 94 GHz.<>     

Dual-gate AlGaN/GaN modulation-doped field-effect transistors with cut-off frequencies f/sub T/>60 GHz

We demonstrate dual-gate AlGaN/GaN modulation-doped field-effect transistors (MODFETs) with gate-lengths of 0.16 /spl mu/m and 0.35 /spl mu/m for the first and second gates, respectively. The dual-gate device exhibits a current-gain cut-off frequency f/sub T/>60 GHz, and can simultaneously achieve a high breakdown voltage of >+100 V. In comparison to single-gate devices with the same gate length 0.16 /spl mu/m, dual-gate FETs can significantly increase breakdown voltages, largely increasing the maximum allowable drain bias for high power application. The continuous wave (CW) output power is in excess of 3.5 W/mm at 8.2 GHz. The corresponding large-signal gain is 12 dB and the power added efficiency is 45%. The dual-gate device with different gate lengths shows the capability of providing simultaneous high cut-off frequencies, and high breakdown voltages for broadband power amplifiers.