GaN-based Tri-gate high electron mobility transistors

The rapidly-growing data throughput rates in a wide range of wireless communication applications are pushing the established semiconductor device technologies to their limits. Considerably higher levels of solid-state output power will therefore be needed to meet the demand in the next generation satellite communications as well as the RADAR systems. Owing to their superior material properties such as high breakdown fields and peak electron velocities, GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have recently prevailed in high-power systems operating in the microwave frequency bands. On the other hand at the millimetre-wave (MMW) and sub-MMW frequencies, highly-scaled GaN HEMTs are prone to experiencing deteriorated high frequency characteristics which severely limit the high-power performance. In an attempt to overcome this, 3-dimensional GaN HEMT devices featuring the Tri-gate topology are developed in this work, exhibiting enhanced performance in terms of both off- and on-state figures of merit. The demonstrated results promote the great potential of Tri-gate GaN HEMTs for both MMW power amplifier and high-speed logic applications.