Liu Guoguo

Optimized power simulation of AlGaN/GaN HEMT for continuous wave and pulse applications*

An optimized modeling method of 8 × 100 μ m AlGaN/GaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) for accurate continuous wave (CW) and pulsed power simulations is proposed. Since the self-heating effect can occur during the continuous operation, the power gain from the continuous operation significantly decreases when compared to a pulsed power operation. This paper extracts power performances of different device models from different quiescent biases of pulsed current-voltage ( I-V ) measurements and compared them in order to determine the most suitable device model for CW and pulse RF microwave power amplifier design. The simulated output power and gain results of the models at V gs = -3.5 V, V ds = 30 V with a frequency of 9.6 GHz are presented.

Gate-Recessed AlGaN/GaN MOSHEMTs with the Maximum Oscillation Frequency Exceeding 120 GHz on Sapphire Substrates

Gate-recessed AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor high electron mobility transistors (MOSHEMTs) on sapphire substrates are fabricated. The devices with a gate length of 160 nm and a gate periphery of 2 × 75 μm exhibit two orders of magnitude reduction in gate leakage current and enhanced off-state breakdown characteristics, compared with conventional HEMTs. Furthermore, the extrinsic transconductance of an MOSHEMT is 237.2 mS/mm, only 7% lower than that of Schottky-gate HEMT. An extrinsic current gain cutoff frequency fT of 65 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency fmax of 123 GHz are deduced from rf small signal measurements. The high fmax demonstrates that gate-recessed MOSHEMTs are of great potential in millimeter wave frequencies.

Multi-bias capacitance voltage characteristic of AlGaN/GaN HEMT

The method of multi-bias capacitance voltage measurement is presented. The physical meaning of gate—source and gate—drain capacitances in AlGaN/GaN HEMT and the variations in them with different bias conditions are discussed. A capacitance model is proposed to reflect the behaviors of the gate—source and gate—drain capacitances, which shows a good agreement with the measured capacitances, and the power performance obtains good results compared with the measured data from the capacitance model.

Improvement of breakdown characteristics of an AlGaN/GaN HEMT with a U-type gate foot for millimeter-wave power application

In this study, the physics-based device simulation tool Silvaco ATLAS is used to characterize the electrical properties of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with a U-type gate foot. The U-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT mainly features a gradually changed sidewall angle, which effectively mitigates the electric field in the channel, thus obtaining enhanced off-state breakdown characteristics. At the same time, only a small additional gate capacitance and decreased gate resistance ensure excellent RF characteristics for the U-gate device. U-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs are feasible through adjusting the etching conditions of an inductively coupled plasma system, without introducing any extra process steps. The simulation results are confirmed by experimental measurements. These features indicate that U-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs might be promising candidates for use in millimeter-wave power applications.

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor with Al2O3+BCB passivation

In this paper, A12O3 ultrathin film used as the surface passivation layer for Al Ga N/Ga N high electron mobility transistor(HEMT) is deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition(ALD), thereby avoiding plasma-induced damage and erosion to the surface. A comparison is made between the surface passivation in this paper and the conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) Si N passivation. A remarkable reduction of the gate leakage current and a significant increase in small signal radio frequency(RF) performance are achieved after applying Al2O3+BCB passivation.For the Al2O3+BCB passivated device with a 0.7 μm gate, the value of f max reaches up to 100 GHz, but it decreases to 40 GHz for Si N HEMT. The f max/ f t ratio(≥ 4) is also improved after Al2O3+BCB passivation. The capacitance–voltage(C–V) measurement demonstrates that Al2O3+BCB HEMT shows quite less density of trap states(on the order of magnitude of 1010cm-2) than that obtained at commonly studied Si N HEMT.In this paper, A12O3 ultrathin film used as the surface passivation layer for AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD), thereby avoiding plasma-induced damage and erosion to the surface. A comparison is made between the surface passivation in this paper and the conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) SiN passivation. A remarkable reduction of the gate leakage current and a significant increase in small signal radio frequency (RF) performance are achieved after applying Al2O3+BCB passivation. For the Al2O3+BCB passivated device with a 0.7 μm gate, the value of fmax reaches up to 100 GHz, but it decreases to 40 GHz for SiN HEMT. The fmax/ft ratio (≥ 4) is also improved after Al2O3+BCB passivation. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurement demonstrates that Al2O3+BCB HEMT shows quite less density of trap states (on the order of magnitude of 1010 cm−2) than that obtained at commonly studied SiN HEMT.

Load-pull measurement analysis of AlGaN/GaN HEMT taking into account number of gate fingers

This paper investigates load-pull measurement of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) at different numbers of gate fingers. Scalable small-signal models are extracted to analyze the relationship between each models parameters and the number of devices gate fingers. The simulated S-parameters from the small-signal models are compared with the reflection coefficients measured from the load-pull measurement system at X-band frequencies of 8.8 and 10.4 GHz. The dependency between the number of devices gate fingers and load-pull characterization is presented.

MIM serie capacitor model for MMIC design application

A new proposed Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) series capacitor model for Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit is presented. The MIM series capacitor model covers the frequency range up to 40 GHz for millimeter-wave circuit design application. The parasitic elements of model are extracted by parameters fitting optimization between the measured S-parameters and model simulated result. The relationship between the optimized parasitic element values and the dimension data of capacitor structure can be expressed.

Thermal analysis of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors by Infrared Microscopy

The channel temperature of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistor was measured by Infrared Microscopy. The behaviors of the channel temperature distribution, the peak channel temperature and the thermal resistance under DC bias were investigated. IR Microscopy facilitates the study of how the device parameters affect reliability.

Impact of UV/ozone surface treatment on AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Surface treatment plays an important role in the process of making high performance AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. A clean surface is critical for enhancing device performance and long-term reliability. By experimenting with different surface treatment methods, we find that using UV/ozone treatment significantly influences the electrical properties of Ohmic contacts and Schottky contacts. According to these experimental phenomena and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy surface analysis results, the effect of the UV/ozone treatment and the reason that it influences the Ohmic/Schottky contact characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is investigated.