Improvement of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs Linearity Using Etched-Fin Gate Structure for Ka Band Applications

• Published in: Micromachines (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 5; p. 931
• Main Authors: Lee, Ming-Wen, Lin, Yueh-Chin, Hsu, Heng-Tung, Gamiz, Francisco, Chang, Edward-Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25-04-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: AlGaN/GaN HEMTs; Aluminum gallium nitrides; Calibration; etched-fin gate structure; Extremely high frequencies; Gallium arsenide; Gallium nitrides; High electron mobility transistors; Intermodulation; Internet of Things; Ka band; Linearity; Power amplifiers; Radio frequency; Satellite communications; Semiconductor devices; SiC substrate; Third order intercept point; Transconductance; Wireless telecommunications equipment; AlGaN/GaN HEMTs; etched-fin gate structure; linearity; Ka band; SiC substrate
• ISSN: 2072-666X; 2072-666X
• DOI: 10.3390/mi14050931

In this paper, AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with etched-fin gate structures fabricated to improve device linearity for Ka-band application are reported. Within the proposed study of planar, one-etched-fin, four-etched-fin, and nine-etched-fin devices, which have 50-μm, 25-μm, 10-μm, and 5-μm partial gate widths, respectively, the four-etched-fin gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices have demonstrated optimized device linearity with respect to the extrinsic transconductance (Gm) value, the output third order intercept point (OIP3), and the third-order intermodulation output power (IMD3) level. The IMD3 is improved by 7 dB at 30 GHz for the 4 × 50 μm HEMT device. The OIP3 is found to reach a maximum value of 36.43 dBm with the four-etched-fin device, which exhibits high potential for the advancement of wireless power amplifier components for Ka band applications.