GaN-on-Si HEMT for D-Band Power Amplification Demonstrating 0.67 W/mm at 10 V
Hanchao Li, Qingyun Xie, Zhongzhiguang Lu, Hanlin Xie, Yihao Zhuang, Siyu Liu, Yuxuan Wang, Yue Wang, Kumud Ranjan, Xiao Gong, Yuanjin Zheng, Geok Ing Ng
Abstract
This Letter reports power amplification by a GaN-on-Si high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) in D-band. An AlN/GaN/AlGaN-on-Si metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS)-HEMT with <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">L<sub>g</sub></i>=140 nm achieved <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">I<sub>dmax</sub></i>=2.0 A/mm, <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g<sub>mmax</sub></i>=0.65 S/mm, and <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">f<sub>T</sub> / f<sub>max</sub></i>=112 / 205 GHz. Load-pull at 123 GHz (continuous wave, CW) demonstrated a maximum output power (<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">P<sub>out</sub></i>) of 0.67 W/mm at a quiescent drain bias (<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">V<sub>ds</sub></i>) of 10 V. The peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 5.3 % was achieved at <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">P<sub>out</sub></i> of 0.36 W/mm (<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">V<sub>ds</sub></i>=5 V). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this demonstration marks the highest frequency (and the first-time reaching D-band) in power amplification among published GaN-on-Si HEMTs, therefore revealing the promising potential of GaN-on-Si electronics for sub-THz 6G communication.