Miniature Mesa Extension for a Planar Submicron AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gate Formation
In this letter, a novel approach is presented to overcome issues in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), such as metal discontinuity of the gate stemmed from conventional mesa isolation. This usually requires a careful mesa etch process to procure an anisotropic mesa-wall profile. A...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Micromachines |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/13/11/2007 |
| _version_ | 1797464491555815424 |
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| author | Moath Alathbah Khaled Elgaid |
| author_facet | Moath Alathbah Khaled Elgaid |
| author_sort | Moath Alathbah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this letter, a novel approach is presented to overcome issues in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), such as metal discontinuity of the gate stemmed from conventional mesa isolation. This usually requires a careful mesa etch process to procure an anisotropic mesa-wall profile. An alternative technique is the use of ion implantation for device isolation instead of conventional mesa for a planar device formation. However, ion implantation is a costly process and not always easily accessible. In this work, the proposed method is to simply extend the mesa below the gate just enough to accommodate the gatefeed, thereby ensuring the entire gate is planar in structure up to the gatefeed. The newly developed device exhibited no compromise to the DC (direct current) and RF (radio frequency) performance. Conversely, it produced a planar gate configuration with an enhanced DC transconductance (approximately 20% increase is observed) and a lower gate leakage while the etch process is considerably simplified. Similarly, the RF transconductance of proposed device (device B) increased by 80% leading to considerable improvements in RF performance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:08:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-66b6381ee6274a99a7bf2c419d74ff4b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-666X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:08:54Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Micromachines |
| spelling | doaj.art-66b6381ee6274a99a7bf2c419d74ff4b2023-11-24T09:16:21ZengMDPI AGMicromachines2072-666X2022-11-011311200710.3390/mi13112007Miniature Mesa Extension for a Planar Submicron AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gate FormationMoath Alathbah0Khaled Elgaid1School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKSchool of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKIn this letter, a novel approach is presented to overcome issues in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), such as metal discontinuity of the gate stemmed from conventional mesa isolation. This usually requires a careful mesa etch process to procure an anisotropic mesa-wall profile. An alternative technique is the use of ion implantation for device isolation instead of conventional mesa for a planar device formation. However, ion implantation is a costly process and not always easily accessible. In this work, the proposed method is to simply extend the mesa below the gate just enough to accommodate the gatefeed, thereby ensuring the entire gate is planar in structure up to the gatefeed. The newly developed device exhibited no compromise to the DC (direct current) and RF (radio frequency) performance. Conversely, it produced a planar gate configuration with an enhanced DC transconductance (approximately 20% increase is observed) and a lower gate leakage while the etch process is considerably simplified. Similarly, the RF transconductance of proposed device (device B) increased by 80% leading to considerable improvements in RF performance.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/13/11/2007AlGaN/GaN HEMTsdevice isolationAlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTsplanar gatefeedgate leakageHEMT mesa etch |
| spellingShingle | Moath Alathbah Khaled Elgaid Miniature Mesa Extension for a Planar Submicron AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gate Formation Micromachines AlGaN/GaN HEMTs device isolation AlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTs planar gatefeed gate leakage HEMT mesa etch |
| title | Miniature Mesa Extension for a Planar Submicron AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gate Formation |
| title_full | Miniature Mesa Extension for a Planar Submicron AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gate Formation |
| title_fullStr | Miniature Mesa Extension for a Planar Submicron AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gate Formation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Miniature Mesa Extension for a Planar Submicron AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gate Formation |
| title_short | Miniature Mesa Extension for a Planar Submicron AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gate Formation |
| title_sort | miniature mesa extension for a planar submicron algan gan hemt gate formation |
| topic | AlGaN/GaN HEMTs device isolation AlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTs planar gatefeed gate leakage HEMT mesa etch |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/13/11/2007 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT moathalathbah miniaturemesaextensionforaplanarsubmicronalganganhemtgateformation AT khaledelgaid miniaturemesaextensionforaplanarsubmicronalganganhemtgateformation |