GaN-on-Si HEMTs Fabricated with Si CMOS-Compatible Metallization for Power Amplifiers in Low-Power Mobile SoCs

Hanlin Xie, Zhihong Liu*, Wenrui Hu, Zheng Zhong, Kenneth Lee, Yong-Xin Guo, Geok Ing Ng*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

GaN-on-Si high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were fabricated using Si CMOS-compatible metallization scheme for RF power amplifiers (PAs)in 5G low-power mobile system-on-chips (SoCs). Ta/Al metals were adopted for the ohmic contact formation. The device with 80-nm rectangular gate exhibited a drain current (Idmax) of 1.95 A/mm, a peak transconductance (gm) of 471 mS/mm, a cutoff frequency (fT) of 178 GHz, and a maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) of 74 GHz. At a mobile SoC-compatible supply voltage of V= 5 V, the device shows a peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 51.4%/47.6%, a maximum output power density (Poutmax) of 1.12 W/mm/1.06 W/mm, and a gain of 16 dB/16 dB at frequency of 3.5 GHz/5 GHz, respectively. These results indicate the great potential of the GaN-on-Si HEMTs for high-performance and low-cost RF PAs for 5G mobile SoC applications. © 2001-2012 IEEE.
Original languageEnglish
Article number9261624
Pages (from-to)141-144
JournalIEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters
Volume31
Issue number2
Online published17 Nov 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2021
Externally publishedYes

Research Keywords

  • 5G
  • GaN-on-Si
  • high electron mobility transistor (HEMT)
  • mobile system-on-chip (SoC)
  • RF

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