High-Performance 0.1-μm Gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on Silicon With Low-Noise Figure at 20 GHz

The realization of high-performance 0.1-mu m gate AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on high-resistivity silicon substrates is reported. Our devices feature cutoff frequencies as high as f(T) = 75 GHz and f(MAX) = 125 GHz, the highest, values reported so far for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on silicon. The microwave noise performance is competitive with results achieved on other substrate types, such as sapphire and silicon carbide, with a noise figure F = 1.2-1.3 dB and an associated gain G(ass) = 8.0-9.5 dB at 20 GHz. This performance demonstrates that GaN-on-silicon technology is a viable alternative for low-cost millimeter-wave applications.