Compact Modeling of N-Polar GaN HEMTs for Intermodulation Distortion in Millimeter-Wave Bands

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques Vol. 71; no. 5; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Karnaty, Rohit R., Shrestha, Pawana, Guidry, Matthew, Romanczyk, Brian, Mishra, Umesh K., Buckwalter, James F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-05-2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Gallium nitride; Gallium nitride (GaN); Gallium nitrides; HEMTs; High electron mobility transistors; high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT); Integrated circuit modeling; Intermodulation distortion; linear gain; Logic gates; Millimeter waves; Model accuracy; modeling; Modelling; MODFETs; N-polar; Power consumption; Semiconductor devices; Semiconductor process modeling; third-order intercept point; Wide band gap semiconductors
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2023.3245668

This article develops a modified Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) virtual source gallium nitride (GaN) (MVSG)-high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) model for N-polar HEMTs and demonstrates the predictive accuracy of the model. This article provides motivation for physics-based modeling approaches and the need to modify these in N-polar devices. The extraction methodology is developed for a millimeter-wave HEMT model from device characterizations. Experimental corroboration of the model demonstrates that the linear gain efficiency (LGE) characterized by the ratio of third-order output intercept point (OIP3) to dc power consumption (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">P_{\text{dc}}</tex-math> </inline-formula>) is more than <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">10</tex-math> </inline-formula> dB with a gain of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">7</tex-math> </inline-formula> dB at 30 GHz for a 60-nm N-polar GaN HEMT device. The role of different physical features in the N-polar model is quantitatively described.