Air Bridge FET Devices for High-Performance Microwave Circuits

A novel high-yield technology is described which permits the production of both high-gain and extremely low-noise FET devices. For its high yield and the simplicity of the process the technique is very useful in the monolithic circuit fabrication. When high power devices have to be produced, the technique offers the advantage of not requiring interdigitated structures. FET devices with 1.25 dB N.F. and 9 dB associated gain at 10 GHz were produced. For such devices the theoretical minimum noise figure is about 1 dB.