High-Performance 0.1-$\mu\hbox{m}$ Gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on Silicon With Low-Noise Figure at 20 GHz

Abstract

The realization of high-performance 0.1-mum gate AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on high-resistivity silicon substrates is reported. Our devices feature cutoff frequencies as high as f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> = 75 GHz and f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">MAX</sub> = 125 GHz, the highest values reported so far for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on silicon. The microwave noise performance is competitive with results achieved on other substrate types, such as sapphire and silicon carbide, with a noise figure F = 1.2-1.3 dB and an associated gain G <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ass</sub> = 8.0-9.5 dB at 20 GHz. This performance demonstrates that GaN-on-silicon technology is a viable alternative for low-cost millimeter-wave applications.