AlGaN/GaN HEMT With 300-GHz $f_{\max}$

Abstract

We report on a gate-recessed AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) on a SiC substrate with a record power-gain cutoff frequency (f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> ). To achieve this high f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> , we combined a low-damage gate-recess technology, scaled device geometry, and recessed source/drain ohmic contacts to simultaneously enable minimum short-channel effects (i.e., high output resistance R <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ds</sub> ) and very low parasitic resistances. A 60-nm-gate-length HEMT with recessed AlGaN barrier exhibited excellent R <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ds</sub> of 95.7 ¿·mm, R <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</sub> of 1.1 ~ 1.2 ¿ · mm, and f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> of 300 GHz, with a breakdown voltage of ~ 20 V. To the authors' knowledge, the obtained f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> is the highest reported to date for any nitride transistor. The accuracy of the f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> value is verified by small signal modeling based on carefully extracted S-parameters.