Improvement of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistor Radio Frequency Performance Using Ohmic Etching Patterns for Ka-Band Applications

Abstract

In this paper, AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with ohmic etching patterns (OEPs) “fabricated to improve device radio frequency (RF) performance for Ka-band applications” are reported. The fabricated AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with OEP structures were used to reduce the source and drain resistances (Rs and Rd) for RF performance improvements. Within the proposed study using 1 μm hole, 3 μm hole, 1 μm line, and 3 μm line OEP HEMTs with 2 × 25 μm gate widths, the small signal performance, large signal performance, and minimum noise figure (NFmin) with optimized values were measured for 1 μm line OEP HEMTs. The cut-off frequency (fT) and maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) value of the 1 μm line OEP device exhibited optimized values of 36.4 GHz and 158.29 GHz, respectively. The load–pull results show that the 1 μm line OEP HEMTs exhibited an optimized maximum output power density (Pout, max) of 1.94 W/mm at 28 GHz. The 1 μm line OEP HEMTs also exhibited an optimized NFmin of 1.75 dB at 28 GHz. The increase in the contact area between the ohmic metal and the AlGaN barrier layer was used to reduce the contact resistance of the OEP HEMTs, and the results show that the 1 μm line OEP HEMT could be fabricated, producing the best improvement in RF performance for Ka-band applications.