Enhanced power performance of enhancement-mode Al/sub 0.5/Ga/sub 0.5/As/In/sub 0.15/Ga/sub 0.85/As pHEMTs using a low-k BCB passivation

Author

Hsien-Chin Chin ; Ming-Jyh Hwu ; Shih-Cheng Yang ; Yi-Jen Chan

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Nat. Central Univ., Chungli, Taiwan

Volume

23

Issue

5

fYear

2002

fDate

5/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

243

Lastpage

245

Abstract

Surface passivation technology plays an important role, especially in E-mode pHEMTs applications, and a new passivation technology has been proposed in this study. This novel benzocyclobutene (BCB) passivation layer takes advantage of the low dielectric permittivity (2.7) and a low loss tangent (0.0008). We not only suppress the gate-to-drain leakage current but also improve the device power performance under a high input power swing by using a BCB passivation layer. The passivated 1.0 μm-long gate pHEMTs exhibit a better off-state performance than the unpassivated ones. The maximum output power under a 2.4-GHz operation is 118 mW/mm, with a linear power gain of 11.1 dB and a power-added efficiency is 60%.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; UHF field effect transistors; aluminium compounds; dielectric losses; gallium arsenide; indium compounds; leakage currents; passivation; permittivity; power HEMT; 1.0 micron; 11.1 dB; 2.4 GHz; 60 percent; Al/sub 0.5/Ga/sub 0.5/As-In/sub 0.15/Ga/sub 0.85/As; Al/sub 0.5/Ga/sub 0.5/As/In/sub 0.15/Ga/sub 0.85/As; E-mode pHEMTs; benzocyclobutene; dielectric permittivity; enhancement-mode pHEMTs; gate-to-drain leakage current; input power swing; linear power gain; loss tangent; low-k BCB passivation; maximum output power; off-state performance; power performance; power-added efficiency; surface passivation technology; Contact resistance; Dielectric losses; Electron traps; Etching; Fabrication; Indium gallium arsenide; PHEMTs; Passivation; Plasma temperature; Silicon compounds;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.998864

Filename

998864