GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t. prepared by organometallic chemical vapour deposition

GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t.s with gate dimensions of 1.5 ?m × 300 ?m were fabricated in the epitaxial layers grown by organometallic chemical vapour deposition (o.m.c.v.d.) technique. The average saturation velocity in the channel was deduced to be 1.3 × 107 cm/s and is equal to that of epitaxial layers grown by AsCl3 chemical vapour deposition (c.v.d.). The velocity degraded region was confined to within about 350 ? of the interface. A gain of 10 dB and a noise figure of 3 dB with an associated gain of 5.5 dB at 8 GHz were measured.     

Ultrafast GaAs microwave PIN diode

This letter describes what is believed to be the first successful realisation of GaAs PIN diodes. The vertical structure was grown on an n+ substrate by MOCVD of a 2 ?m, 1015 cm?3 unintentionally doped n? layer followed by a 0.3 ?m, 4×1019 cm?3 Zn doped p+ layer. The isolation and insertion loss of a single shunt-mounted device are typically ?27 dB and 0.7 dB, respectively. The switching speed of the device was measured to be less than 1 ns.     

Microwave power amplification with InP f.e.t.s

InP f.e.t.s were fabricated from v.p.e. layers, with an Al gate of 1.5 ?m × 308 ?m. The power output at 9 GHz, with 4 dB gain, was 1.15 W/mm gate width. This result is believed to be higher than the best published results obtained with equivalent GaAs f.e.t. structures.     

Microwave capability of 1.5 ?m-gate GaAs m.o.s.f.e.t.

1.5 ?m-gate GaAs m.o.s.f.e.t.s have been fabricated by anodic oxidation, and the microwave capability has been examined. The maximum oscillation frequency fmax is 22 GHz and the noise figure is 6.1 dB at 8 GHz. The results are comparable to those of GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t.s.     

Dual-gate m.e.s.f.e.t. self-oscillating X-band mixers

GaAs dual-gate m.e.s.f.e.t.s have been successfully used as self-oscillating down-convertors in X-band. A single device replaces the preamplifier, mixer and local oscillator. The best conversion gain achieved by mixing from 10 GHz down to 1 GHz was 12 dB. The input (gate 1) to output (drain) port isolation amounted to 16 dB. Slug-tuner and `disc?-resonator circuits were tested and showed comparable gain and noise performance. Best d.s.b. noise figures of 5.5 dB could be realised at an i.f. of 1 GHz with an associated conversion gain of 4 dB.     

Effect of neutron and gamma irradiation on the low-frequency noise in GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t.s

Low-frequency noise in GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t.s has been measured from 2 kHz to 1.5 MHz as a function of fast neutron fluence and gamma dose. From 5 × 1013 to 8 × 1014 n/cm2, the noise increases appreciably, with the noise enhancement from 2 to 10 kHz attributed to generation-recombination noise in the gate depletion layer and from 500 kHz to 1.5 MHz to channel trapping effects. There was comparably little change with gamma irradiation up to doses above 107 rad (Si).     

Growth conditions to achieve mobility enhancement in AlxGa1?xAs-GaAs heterojunctions by m.b.e.

Modulation doped Al0.25Ga0.75As-GaAs heterojunctions have been prepared by molecular beam epitaxy (m.b.e.). Al0.25Ga0.75As layers were doped with Si to a level of ~ 3 × 1017 cm?3, whereas the GaAs layers were either unintentionally doped, doped lightly n-type with Sn, or doped lightly p-type with Be. Heterojunction structures having single and multiple periods have shown enhanced mobility only with the AlxGa1?xAs layer at the surface and the GaAs layer underlying. These results represent the first report that electrons spill over only into the underlying GaAs layer from the top AlxGa1?xAs layer.     

GaAs f.e.t. mixer operation with high intermediate frequencies

GaAs f.e.t. mixer operation is investigated at 6 GHz when the intermediate frequency is around 1 GHz. A 3 dB improvement in noise figure is measured, compared with 30 MHz i.f. operation. Other characteristics, such as conversion gain and dynamic range, are similar. Broadband operation is also investigated. With 0.5 ?m gate device, on s.s.b. noise figure of 5.6 dB is achieved with a conversion gain of 10 dB.     

X and Ku band GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t.

A GaAs Schottky-barrier f.e.t. (m.e.s.f.e.t.) with a 1 ?m gate has been built, which is suitable for X band and Ku band applications. The unilateral power gain over the X band is above 9 dB and the noise figure is only 5 dB at 10 GHz.     

Medium-power GaAs field-effect transistors

Results on medium-power GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t.s. are described. Output powers as high as 300 mW at 9 GHz at 1 dB gain compression with a linear gain of 5.2 dB and drain efficiency of 30% have been obtained with single-cell m.e.s.f.e.t.s. At 4 GHz, a power output of 665 mW at 1 dB gain compression, a linear gain of 8 dB and a drain efficiency of 44.5% were realised with a 3-cell m.e.s.f.e.t. Two-tone intermodulation characteristics at 4 GHz are also described. A major innovation has been the use of a high-resistivity chromium-doped epitaxial GaAs buffer layer to isolate the device active region from the bulk-grown substrate.     

New estimate of the minimum noise figure of a m.e.s.f.e.t.

New estimates of the drain and gate noise multiplication parameters, the correlation coefficient and the minimum noise figure for a m.e.s.f.e.t. are advanced. For an uncooled GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t. having a 1 ?m gate length, a minimum possible noise figure of 1 dB at 10 GHz is predicted. InP is only marginally better.     

GaAs power m.e.s.f.e.t.s. with a graded recess structure

A new recess structure device was developed to improve the field distrubution and therfore the performance of GaAs power m.e.s.f.e.t.s. The linear gain and the output power were improved by 1?2 dB for this structure. The highest output powers obtained are 15 W with 4 dB associated gain at 6 GHz, and 4.3 W with 3 dB associated gain at 11 GHz.     

High-efficiency GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t. amplifiers

High-efficiency c.w. amplification with GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t.s under class-B conditions has been demonstrated. Power added efficiencies as high as 68% at 4 GHz and 41% at 8 GHz have been achieved. Two-tone tests were carried out at 4 GHz. The power added efficiencies at the 3rd-order intermodulation levels of ?20, ?25 and ?30 dB were 49, 40 and 35% respectively.     

GaAs power f.e.t.s with semi-insulated gates

GaAs semi-insulated-gate f.e.t.s (s.i.g.f.e.t.s) have been fabricated by Ar+ bombardment in the gate region. The d c. characteristics and microwave performance are compared with those of conventional power m.e.s.f.e.t.s fabricated from the same slice. Up to 2.9W output power with 4dB gain has been obtained from s.i.g.f.e.t. devices at 8 GHz.     

Intentional side etching to achieve low-noise GaAs f.e.t.

A very-low-noise 0.5 ?m-gate GaAs f.e.t. is realised by using intentional side etching of an Au/Ti double layer as the Schottky-gate metal. At 12 GHz, the minimum noise figure is 2.1 dB, with 7.6 dB associated gain at a bias of VD = 4 V, ID= 10 mA. Maximum stable gain is 14 dB at VD = 4 V, ID = 30 mA.     

U.H.F. low-noise GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t. amplifier for colour t.v. broadcasting translator

Low-noise amplifiers for u.h.f. colour t.v. broadcasting translator use have been successfully developed by using 1 ?m gate GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t.s. The obtained performances revealed that a GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t. has low-noise and low intermodulation distortion characteristics, even in the 500?800 MHz frequency range, compared with a Si bipolar transistor.     

7.9?8.4 GHz GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t. amplifier

A 4-stage balanced GaAs m.e.s.f.e.t. amplifier has been developed for the 7.9?8.4 GHz satellite-communication frequency band. Linear gain of 26±0.5dB and 150 mW power at 1 dB compression were obtained across the design band. The small-signal gain, phase linearity, group delay and noise figure are described as a function of frequency. Large-signal gain saturation, 3rd-order intermodulation distortion, gain and phase against temperature and a.m.-to-p.m. conversion data are also presented.     

Substrate dependence of InP m.e.s.f.e.t. performance

There is evidence to suggest that Fe outdiffuses, during the growth, into the epitaxial films prepared by vapour-phase epitaxy at 650°C. Field-effect transistors on Fe-doped material show substantial looping that was absent on Cr-doped material and exhibit about 2 dB worse noise figure at about 7 GHz. Experiments with low 1015 S-doped InP grown on Sn-, Cr- and Fe-doped substates indicate that such outdiffusion is typically about 5 ?m. Saturation velocity levels in the m.e.s.f.e.t. channel are about 1.7 × 107 cm/s and 1.3 × 107 cm/s, associated with Cr and Fe doped substrates, respectively.     

AlGaAs/GaAs Heterojunction bipolar power transistors

An AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor with a total emitter periphery of 320 ?m has been developed for power amplifier applications. For the base contact, Zn diffusion was used to convert the n-type emitter material into p-type with a doping of ?1.0 × 1020 cm?3. Because of the highly doped layer, contact resistivity was extremely low (5 × 10?7 ?cm2). At 3 GHz, a CW output power of 320 mW with 7 dB gain and 30% power-added efficiency was obtained. Under pulsed operation, the output power increased to 500 mW with 6 dB gain and 40% power-added efficiency. With further device structure optimisations, the power performance of heterojunction bipolar transistors is expected to rival, or even surpass, that of the GaAs MESFETs.     

Microwave InxGa1?xAsyP1?y/InP f.e.t

Microwave performance of InxGa1?xAsyP1?y quaternary alloy metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (m.e.s.f.e.t.s) is reported. Liquid-phase epitaxy (l.p.e.) using a step cooling technique has been employed to grow submicrometre quaternary layers having room-temperature bandgaps of 0.9, 1.0, 1.05, 1.15 and 1.2eV. F.E.T.s having gate dimensions of 1×200 ?m and a channel length of 5 ?m have been fabricated using 1.15 and 1.2 eV quaternary alloys. A maximum d.c. transconductance of about 10 mS and a maximum available gain of about 7 dB at 10 GHz have been obtained.