Insulating gate III-N heterostructure field-effect transistors for high-power microwave and switching applications

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 624 - 633
• Main Authors: Khan, M.A., Simin, G., Jinwei Yang, Jianping Zhang, Koudymov, A., Shur, M.S., Gaska, R., Xuhong Hu, Tarakji, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.02.2003; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Devices; Gates; HEMTs; Heterostructures; High power amplifiers; Insulation; Metal-insulator structures; Microwave amplifiers; Microwave devices; Microwaves; MODFETs; MOSHFETs; Operating temperature; Operational amplifiers; Semiconductor devices; Silicon dioxide; Temperature; Transistors
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2002.807681

Describes the properties of novel III-N-based insulating gate heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs). For the gate isolation, these devices use either SiO/sub 2/ layer (in metal-oxide-semiconductor HFET (MOSHFET) structures) or Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ layer (in metal-insulator-semiconductor HFET structures). These insulating gate HFETs have the gate-leakage currents 4-6 orders of magnitude lower than HFETs, even at elevated temperatures up to 300/spl deg/C. A double-heterostructure MOSHFET with SiO/sub 2/ gate isolation exhibits current collapse-free performance with extremely low gate-leakage current. Insulating gate devices, including large periphery multigate structures, demonstrate high-power stable operation and might find applications in high-performance power amplifiers and microwave and high-power switches with operating temperatures up to 300/spl deg/C or even higher.