Power Performance of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors on (110) Silicon Substrate at 40 GHz

This letter reports the first millimeter-wave power demonstration of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors grown on a (110) silicon substrate. Owing to an AlN/AlGaN stress-mitigating stack and in spite of the twofold surface symmetry of Si (110), it is possible to obtain crack-free GaN layers for the fabrication of millimeter-wave power devices with high performance. The device exhibits a maximum dc drain current density of 1.55 A/mm at V-GS = 0 V with an extrinsic transconductance of 476 mS/mm. An extrinsic current gain cutoff frequency of 81 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency of 106 GHz are deduced from S-ij parameters. At 40 GHz, an output power density of 3.3 W/mm associated with a power-added efficiency of 20.1% and a linear power gain of 10.6 dB is obtained.