Sub-1-dB Noise Figure Performance of High-Power Field-Plated GaN HEMTs

Author

Moon, J.S. ; Wong, D. ; Hashimoto, P. ; Hu, M. ; Milosavljevic, I. ; Willadsen, P. ; McGuire, C. ; Burnham, S. ; Micovic, M. ; Wetzel, M. ; Chow, D.

Author_Institution

HRL Labs. LLC, Malibu, CA, USA

Volume

32

Issue

3

fYear

2011

fDate

3/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

297

Lastpage

299

Abstract

In this letter, we report the state-of-the-art micro wave noise performance of discrete 0.15-μm-gate-length field plated (FP) GaN HEMTs. The FP GaN HEMTs yielded a peak fτ/f_max of 60 GHz/150 GHz at Vds = 10 V. An f_max of 230 GHz was obtained at Vds = 20 V. At 2.5 V, the source-drain bias and dc power dissipation of 200 mW/mm, a minimum noise figure (NF_min) of 0.89 dB, and an associated gain (AG) of 11 dB were measured at 10 GHz. At 20 GHz the NF_min and AG were 1.9 and 6.2 dB, respectively. The sub-1-dB microwave noise performance at 10 GHz is the best ever reported for FP high-power GaN HEMTs, which can be attributed to their lateral scaling and deep-submicrometer gate lengths.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium compounds; high electron mobility transistors; microwave field effect transistors; millimetre wave field effect transistors; wide band gap semiconductors; DC power dissipation; GaN; deep-submicrometer gate lengths; frequency 10 GHz; frequency 150 GHz; frequency 20 GHz; frequency 230 GHz; frequency 60 GHz; gain 1.9 dB; gain 11 dB; gain 6.2 dB; gate-length field plated GaN HEMT; high-power field-plated GaN HEMT; microwave noise performance; noise figure 0.89 dB; noise figure performance; size 0.15 mum; source-drain bias; voltage 10 V; voltage 2.5 V; voltage 20 V; $f_{max}$ ; Field plated (FP); GaN HEMT; noise figure;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2010.2095408

Filename

5678622