N.H. Sheng

GaAlAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors: issues and prospects for application

Issues important for the manufacturing of GaAlAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) and their prospects for application in various areas are discussed. The microwave and digital performance status of HBTs is reviewed. Extrapolated values of maximum frequency of oscillation above 200 GHz and frequency divider operation at 26.9 GHz are reported. Key prospects for further device development are highlighted. >

AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors fabricated using a self-aligned dual-lift-off process

This paper describes a self-aligned heterojunction-bipolar-transistor (HBT) process based on a simple dual-lift-off method. Transistors with emitter width down to 1.2 µm and base doping up to 1 × 1020/cm3have been fabricated. Extrapolated current gain cutoff frequency ftof 55 GHz and maximum frequency of oscillationf_{\max}of 105 GHz have been obtained. Current-mode-logic (CML) ring oscillators with propagation delays as low as 14.2 ps have been demonstrated. These are record performance results for bipolar transistors. The dual-lift-off process is promising for both millimeter-wave devices and large-scale integrated circuit fabrication.

Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors for Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuits

This paper reviews the present status of GaAIAs/ GaAs HBT technology and projects the impact of these devices on microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits. Devices with f/sub max/ above 100 GHz are described. Differential amplifiers are shown to have offset voltages with standard deviation below 2 mV and voltage gain of 200 per stage. Breakdown voltages (BV/sub CBO/) above 20 V are demonstrated. Frequency dividers operating above 20 GHz are described.

Ultrahigh power efficiency operation of common-emitter and common-base HBT's at 10 GHz

The DC and RF characteristics of microwave power HBTs are described. Ultrahigh power-added efficiency is reported for AlGaAs-GaAs HBTs operating at 10 GHz in common-emitter (CE) and common-base (CB) modes. A record high 67.8% power-added efficiency with 11.6 dB associated gain was achieved with a CE HBT at a CW output power of 0.226 W, corresponding to a power density of 5.6 W/mm. With a CB HBT, 62.3% power-added efficiency with 11.85 dB gain and 0.385 W total CW power was demonstrated. Power saturation characteristics of CE and CB HBTs are compared. The importance of bias schemes is discussed. High-efficiency operation in near class B mode is described and compared with FET operation. An advantage of HBT over FET is the low leakage current during the off half cycle in class B operation. Stability conditions for CE and CB HBTs are discussed. >

Multiple-channel GaAs/AlGaAs high electron mobility transistors

Multiple-channel high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have been designed and fabricated on GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructural material grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The sheet carrier density of the two-dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) measured at 77 K was linearly proportional to the number of high mobility electron channels, and reached 5.3 × 1012cm-2for six-channel HEMT structures. Depletion-mode devices of the double-heterojunction HEMT were operated between negative pinchoff voltage and forward-biased gate voltage without any transconductance degradation. A peak extrinsic transconductance of 360 mS/mm at 300 K and 550 mS/mm at 77 K has been measured for a 1-µm gate-length double-heterojunction enhancement-mode device. An extremely high drain current of 800 mA/mm with a gate-to-drain avalanche breakdown voltage of 9 V was measured on six-channel devices.

A high-speed, low-power divide-by-4 frequency divider implemented with AlInAs/GaInAs HBT's

The authors describe the first frequency divider demonstrated using AlInAs/GaInAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). The divider (a static 1/4 divider circuit) operates up to a maximum frequency of 17.1 GHz, corresponding to a gate delay of 29 ps for a bilevel current-mode logic (CML) gate with a fan-out of 2, and a total power consumption of 67 mW (about 4.5 mW per equivalent NOR gate). These results demonstrate the potential of AlInAs/GaInAs HBTs for implementing low-power, high-speed integrated circuits.<<ETX>>

AlGaAs/GaAs HBT IC's for high-speed lightwave transmission systems

The implementation of multigigabit-per-second optical communication systems requires many high-speed electronic circuit components that meet stringent performance requirements. Several important research prototype circuits for fiber-optic transmission, implemented in a baseline AlGaAs/GaAs HBT process, are discussed. These include a 20 Gb/s decision circuit, a 27 Gb/s 1:2 demultiplexer, a 30 GB/s 2:1 multiplexer, a 27 Gb/s 4:1 multiplexer, and a 11 Gb/s laser driver IC. >

High-speed 8:1 multiplexer and 1:8 demultiplexer implemented with AlGaAs/GaAs HBTs

An 8:1 multiplexer (MUX) and 1:8 demultiplexer (DMUX) implemented with AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors are described. The circuits were designed for lightwave communications, and were demonstrated to operate at data rates above 6 Gb/s. These are among the fastest 8-b MUX-DMUX circuits ever reported. Each contains about 600 transistors and consumes about 1.5 W. The pair provides features such as resettable timing, data framing, and clock recovery circuitry, and a built-in decision circuit on the DMUX. Emitter-coupled logic (ECL) compatible input/output (1/O) signals are available. The circuits were implemented with bi-level current mode logic (CML) and require a -5.2-V power supply and a +1-V bias for ECL compatibility. >

A 30 GHz bandwidth AlGaAs-GaAs HBT direct-coupled feedback amplifier

A DC to 30 GHz broadband amplifier based on the Darlington connected transistors with series and shunt resistive feedback was implemented with self-aligned AlGaAs-GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology. The measured performance shows 7.8 dB of gain with -3-dB roll-off bandwidth of 30 GHz. Measured at 1 GHz, the noise figure was 5.7 dB, 1-dB compression power was 11 dBm, and the third-order intermodulation product intercept point (IP3) was 23.9 dBm.<<ETX>>

High power GaAlAs/GaAs HBTs for microwave applications

This paper reports the attainment of high microwave output, up to 0.4 W cw at 10 GHz, with GaAlAs/ GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors. In addition to high power, the HBTs displayed excellent power-added efficiency (4896) and power gain (7 dB). A key factor in obtaining these high powers and efficiencies is the ability to support high collector-emitter voltages without breakdown. Breakdown voltage was up to 23 V (BVcbo) in the devices reported here. The experimental data are in good agreement with a theoretical model of I-V characteristics near breakdown. The cutoff frequency ftwas found to vary with Vceas expected for electron-drift at a saturation veloclty of 1 × 107cm/s across the base-collector depletion region.