A highly selective wet chemical etch process for gate recess of the GaAs power metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MES-FETs) was developed. The power MESFETs used in this study were epitaxially grown devices with a 20 Å AlAs etch-stop layer for gate recess. The selective etch process using citric acid/potassium citrate/hydrogen peroxide solution was studied. A selectivity better than 3800:1 was achieved for GaAs/AlAs layers. This selective etch was applied both to high-power, high-voltage power MESFETs and low-voltage large-periphery power MESFETs. For high-power applications, the 14.7 mm device had a breakdown voltage of 22 V. When tested at 1.88 GHz with a drain bias of 10 V, it provided a maximum output power of 38.8 dBm and a maximum power-added efficiency of 52.5%. For low-voltage applications, the 19.8 mm device was tested under IS-95 code-division multiple access (CDMA) modulation at 1.88 GHz with a drain bias of 3.5 V. Under CDMA modulation, the device showed an output power of 28.03 dBm with an adjacent channel power rejection of Ϫ29.6 dBc at 1.25 MHz offset frequency. Both devices also showed excellent uniformity in pinch-off voltages.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.