InGaAs MOSHEMT W-Band LNAs on Silicon and Gallium Arsenide Substrates

Abstract

This letter presents the design, performance, and analysis of four low-noise amplifier (LNA) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) operating in W-band. Two LNA designs were fabricated in two variations of a 20-nm gate-length metal-oxide-semiconductor high-electronmobility transistor (MOSHEMT) technology each. While for the first technology version the heterostructure is directly grown on the final gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafer, the second version uses direct wafer bonding to transfer the III-V heterostructure after the epitaxial growth to a silicon (Si) substrate. Based on the measured noise figure (NF) of the four MMICs over a comprehensive set of bias conditions, the impact of short-channel effects on the RF performance and possible improvements are analyzed. The first LNA covers an octave bandwidth with more than 15 dB of gain and an average NF (75-105 GHz) of 3.5 dB on a Si substrate. At 80 GHz, the second amplifier exhibits minimal NFs of 2.3 and 2.5 dB on GaAs and Si substrates, respectively. Compared to previously reported MOS-or Si-based technologies, the presented LNAs demonstrate state-of-the-art noise performance emphasizing the importance of electron confinement for highly scaled transistor technologies.

III-V-on-Si transistor technologies: Performance boosters and integration

“…By implementing both a thin gate oxide and thin top-barrier, the device could exhibit both strong electrostatics and high mobility. Experimental realizations of this technology have already shown gm = 2.2 mS/um and fmax above 600 GHz as well as high-performance LNAs [13], [56].…”

Heterogeneous Integration of III–V Materials by Direct Wafer Bonding for High-Performance Electronics and Optoelectronics

“…4b is comparing the cut-off frequency ft and maximum oscillation frequency fmax of III-V FETs, integrated by DWB, 3D-DWB as well as on native III-V substrates to Si RF-CMOS technology [7], [48]- [50]. There are also reports of metal-oxide-semiconductor high electgron mobility transistors (HEMTs/MOSHEMTs) integrated on Si by DWB showing performance close to that of HEMTs on native III-V substrates [51]. The performance of 3D integrated III-V-on-CMOS is here reported for the first time, showing ft/fmax of 210/200 GHz at LG = 25 nm.…”

“…higher than the integration temperature. This can be overcome using junctionless transistor designs or HEMT structures where the doped contacts are part of the bonded heterostructure [51].…”

Sensitivity estimation of biosensor in a tapered cavity MOSHEMT

“…The suitability of HEMT as a biosensor arises from its intrinsic properties of enhanced electron mobility, 2-dimensional electron gas (2-DEG), chemical inertness, thermal stability, and high speed [10][11][12][13][14]. HEMT also finds use in power devices [15], [16] including amplifier designs [17]. For use as a biosensor, a nanogap is usually created near the gate region and the permittivity of the nanogap or cavity is modulated which impacts the device electrical parameters that can be exploited for biosensing applications.…”