High-Temperature Operation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs Direct-Coupled FET Logic (DCFL) Integrated Circuits

Abstract

This letter presents the high-temperature performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMT direct-coupled FET logic (DCFL) integrated circuits. At 375 degC, enhancement-mode (E-mode) AlGaN/GaN HEMTs which are used as drivers in DCFL circuits exhibit proper E-mode operation with a threshold voltage (V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">TH</sub> ) of 0.24 V and a peak current density of 56 mA/mm. The monolithically integrated E/D-mode AlGaN/GaN HEMTs DCFL circuits deliver stable operations at 375 degC: An E/D-HEMT inverter with a drive/load ratio of 10 exhibits 0.1 V for logic-low noise margin (NM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">L</sub> ) and 0.3 V for logic-high-noise margin (NM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">H</sub> ) at a supply voltage (V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DD</sub> ) of 3.0 V; a 17-stage ring oscillator exhibits a maximum oscillation frequency of 66 MHz, corresponding to a minimum propagation delay ( tau <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">pd</sub> ) of 446 ps/stage at V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DD</sub> of 3.0 V