High-Power Recessed-Gate AlGaN–GaN HFET With a Field-Modulating Plate

Abstract

Recessed-gate AlGaN-GaN heterojunction field-effect transistors (FETs) with a field-modulating plate (FP) have been successfully fabricated for high-voltage and high-power microwave applications. The developed recessed-gate FP-FET with a gate length of 1 /spl mu/m exhibited an increased transconductance of 200 mS/mm. A series of current collapse measurements revealed that the recessed-gate FP-FET is highly desirable for collapse-free high-voltage power operation. Equivalent circuit analysis demonstrated that the gain loss due to the additional gate feedback capacitance associated with the FP electrode is considerably compensated by increasing the drain bias voltage to more than 30 V. A 48-mm-wide recessed-gate FP-FET biased at a drain voltage of 48 V exhibited a record saturated output power of 197 W with a linear gain of 10.1 dB and a power-added efficiency of 67% at 2 GHz.