Microwave Performance of all MOCVD-grown AlScN/GaN MIS-HEMTs on Semi-Insulating GaN Substrates

TL;DR

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of all MOCVD-grown AlScN/GaN MIS-HEMTs on semi-insulating GaN substrates, demonstrating high performance in high-frequency and high-power applications.

Contribution

It extends previous work by demonstrating long-gate, high-voltage AlScN/GaN MIS-HEMTs with excellent microwave and noise performance.

Findings

Maximum drain current density of 1 A/mm

RF cutoff frequency of 25.8 GHz and maximum frequency of 51.1 GHz

Output power density of 4.04 W/mm at 10 GHz

Abstract

We report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of all MOCVD-grown long-gate AlScN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor high electron mobility transistors (MIS-HEMTs) on semi-insulating GaN substrates. Devices with a gate length of $1~\mu$m and gate-drain spacing of $0.9~\mu$ m exhibit a maximum drain current density of 1 A/mm, an on/off current ratio of $2\times 10^5$, and a three-terminal breakdown voltage of 63 V. The device has near-ideal subthreshold characteristics with a subthreshold swing of 63 mV/dec and a current dispersion as low as 7.8$\%$ at 10 V due to the excellent interfacial quality with a trap density ($D_\mathrm{it}$) of $2.11\times{10}^{11}~\mathrm{cm}^{-2}eV^{-1}$ and the semi-insulating GaN substrate with a low threading dislocation density. Small-signal RF measurements reveal an $f_\mathrm{T}/f_\mathrm{max}$ of 25.8/51.1 GHz, while large-signal load-pull characterization at 10 GHz demonstrates an output power density of 4.04 W/mm with a power-added efficiency of 22.7$\%$. In addition, a minimum noise figure below 2.5 dB was measured over a wide drain current range from 100 mA/mm to 700 mA/mm below 6 GHz. These results extend previous demonstrations of short-gate MOCVD-grown AlScN/GaN HEMTs to the long-gate, high-voltage regime, confirming the robustness of this material system for both high-frequency and high-power device applications with favorable microwave noise performance.