Noise Performance of Sub-100-nm Metamorphic HEMT Technologies

Heinz, Felix; Thome, Fabian; Leuther, A.; Ambacher, O.

doi:10.1109/ims30576.2020.9223783

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Today's standard HEMT noise models [10], [19] show that the noise created in HEMTs originates from various physical effects at different positions in the transistor. Main noise sources in HEMTs are the thermal noise of the gate-line resistance, thermal noise of the access resistances, shot noise generated by gate leakage current, and channel noise [12].…”

Section: Theory Of Transistor Noise Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This seems to contradict the prediction of classical HEMT noise modeling approaches [10], which takes maximum transition frequency and gain as a noise suppressing factor into account. Investigations of mHEMTs with different gate lengths have shown that the increase in gate leakage current due to simultaneous Schottky barrier scaling becomes an important contributor to the noise temperature [11], [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A 50-nm Gate-Length Metamorphic HEMT Technology Optimized for Cryogenic Ultra-Low-Noise Operation

Heinz

Thome

Leuther

et al. 2021

IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn.

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This article reports on the investigation and optimization of cryogenic noise mechanisms in InGaAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistors (mHEMTs). HEMT technologies with a gate length of 100, 50, and 35 nm are characterized both under room temperature and cryogenic conditions. Furthermore, two additional technology variations with 50-nm gate length are investigated to decompose different noise mechanisms in HEMTs. Therefore, cryogenic extended K u-band low-noise amplifiers of the investigated technologies are presented to benchmark their noise performance. Technology C with a 50-nm gate length exhibits an average effective noise temperature of 4.2 K between 8 and 18 GHz with a minimum of 3.3 K when the amplifier is cooled to 10 K. The amplifier provides an average gain of 39.4 dB at optimal noise bias. The improved noise performance has been achieved by optimization of the epitaxial structure of the 50-nm technology, which leads to low gate leakage currents and high gain at low drain current bias. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that an average noise temperature of 4.2 K has been demonstrated in the K u-band.

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Section: Theory Of Transistor Noise Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 50-nm Gate-Length Metamorphic HEMT Technology Optimized for Cryogenic Ultra-Low-Noise Operation

Heinz

Thome

Leuther

et al. 2021

IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn.

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“…We measured the microwave noise temperature T e and gain G of the device under test (DUT), a common-source two-stage packaged amplifier comprised of OMMIC D007IH metamorphic HEMTs [17], each with a 70 nm gate length and a 4 finger 200 µm width doublemushroom gate structure consisting of an InGaAs-InAlAs-InGaAs-InAlAs epitaxial stack on a semi-insulating GaAs substrate with each stage biased nominally identically, using the cold attenuator Y-factor method [36]. An input matching network (IMN) was employed to match the optimal transistor impedance to the 50 Ω impedance of our measurement system over a 4-5.5 GHz bandwidth (see SI section S.1 and Ch.…”

Section: Experiments a Overview Of Measurement Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In these applications, LNAs serve as the first or second stage of amplification in the receiver chain, thereby making a decisive contribution to the noise floor of the entire measurement apparatus. Although marked improvements in noise performance have been achieved in recent decades [5,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17], the noise performance of HEMT LNAs remains a factor of 3 -5 larger than the quantum limit [4,18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-heating of cryogenic high-electron-mobility transistor amplifiers and the limits of microwave noise performance

Ardizzi,

Choi,

Gabritchidze

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The fundamental limits of the microwave noise performance of high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are of scientific and practical interest for applications in radio astronomy and quantum computing. Self-heating at cryogenic temperatures has been reported to be a limiting mechanism for the noise, but cryogenic cooling strategies to mitigate it, for instance using liquid cryogens, have not been evaluated. Here, we report microwave noise measurements of a packaged two-stage HEMT amplifier immersed in normal and superfluid 4 He baths and in vacuum from 1.6 -80 K.We find that these liquid cryogens are unable to mitigate the thermal noise associated with selfheating. Considering this finding, we examine the implications for the lower bounds of cryogenic noise performance in HEMTs. Our analysis supports the general design principle for cryogenic HEMTs of maximizing gain at the lowest possible power.

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“…Microwave low noise amplifiers (LNAs) based on high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are widely-used components of scientific instrumentation in fields such as radio astronomy [1,2], deep space communication [3], and quantum computing [4][5][6][7][8]. After decades of development [9][10][11][12][13],…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of self-heating in cryogenic high electron mobility transistors using Schottky thermometry

Choi

Esho

Gabritchidze

et al. 2021

Journal of Applied Physics

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Cryogenic low noise amplifiers based on high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are widely used in applications such as radio astronomy, deep space communications, and quantum computing, and the physical mechanisms governing the microwave noise figure are therefore of practical interest. In particular, the contribution of thermal noise from the gate at cryogenic temperatures remains unclear owing to a lack of experimental measurements of thermal resistance under these conditions. Here, we report measurements of gate junction temperature and thermal resistance in a HEMT at cryogenic and room temperatures using a Schottky thermometry method. At temperatures ∼ 20 K, we observe a nonlinear trend of thermal resistance versus power that is consistent with heat dissipation by phonon radiation. Based on this finding, we consider heat transport by phonon radiation at the low-noise bias and liquid helium temperatures and estimate that the thermal noise from the gate is several times larger than previously assumed owing to self-heating. We conclude that without improvements in thermal management, self-heating results in a practical lower limit for microwave noise figure of HEMTs at cryogenic temperatures.

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Noise Performance of Sub-100-nm Metamorphic HEMT Technologies

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

A 50-nm Gate-Length Metamorphic HEMT Technology Optimized for Cryogenic Ultra-Low-Noise Operation

A 50-nm Gate-Length Metamorphic HEMT Technology Optimized for Cryogenic Ultra-Low-Noise Operation

Self-heating of cryogenic high-electron-mobility transistor amplifiers and the limits of microwave noise performance

Characterization of self-heating in cryogenic high electron mobility transistors using Schottky thermometry

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