GaN-Based Transistors with Trigate Architecture

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Oliver Ambacher; Privatdozent Dr.-Ing. Frank Schwierz
• Subject Area: Electronic Semiconductors, Components and Circuits, Integrated Systems, Sensor Technology, Theoretical Electrical Engineering
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 243486436

• Final Report Year: 2017

Final Report Abstract

From the project partners’ point of view, the project was very successful. The close interaction between theoretical and experimental efforts and, most of all, the excellent experimental work, all project objectives formulated in the proposal have been achieved. Moreover, world record performance of GaN tri-gate HEMTs has been demonstrated and the first integrated tri-gate circuits have been realized. Regarding the applications, the development of e-mode tri-gate HEMTs suggests a more reliable operation in power electronics applications such as fail-safe DC-DC converters, as much as it advocates simplified bias networks in all types of circuit topologies. Microwave and millimeter-wave power amplifier applications is another field of interest in which the proposed tri-gate concept becomes advantageous since the preservation of the RF performance at high-bias regimes allows for a nearly-ideal output power scaling, without the cost of a reduced cutoff frequency. Therefore, the beneficial properties of the tri-gate transistors demonstrated in this project promise much better scaling performance and prospective development beyond millimeterand submillimeter-wave frequencies.

Publications

• “Design of GaN tri-gate HEMTs,” Proc. Int. Conf. on Advanced Semiconductor Devices & Microsystems (ASDAM), pp. 1–4 (2014)
  M. Alsharef, R. Granzner, E. Ture, R. Quay, J. Racko, J. Breza, and F. Schwierz
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1109/ASDAM.2014.6998657)
• “Performance and parasitic analysis of sub-micron scaled tri-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT design,” Proc. European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conf. (EuMIC), pp. 97–100 (2015)
  E. Ture, P. Brückner, F. V. Raay, M. Alsharef, R. Granzner, F. Schwierz, R. Quay, and O. Ambacher
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1109/EuMIC.2015.7345077)
• “Enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN FinFETs with high on/off performance in 100 nm gate length,” Proc. European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC), pp. 61–64 (2016)
  E. Ture, P. Brückner, M. Alsharef, R. Granzner, F. Schwierz, R. Quay, and O. Ambacher
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1109/EuMIC.2016.7777489)
• “High-current submicrometer tri-gate GaN high-electron mobility transistors with binary and quaternary barriers,” IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1–6 (2016)
  E. Ture, P. Brückner, B.-J. Godejohann, R. Aidam, M. Alsharef, R. Granzner, F. Schwierz, R. Quay, and O. Ambacher
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1109/JEDS.2015.2503701)
• “Performance of tri-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs,” Proc. European Solid-State Device Research and Circuit Conf. (ESSDERC), pp. 176-179 (2016)
  M. Alsharef, R. Granzner, F. Schwierz, E. Ture, R. Quay, and O. Ambacher
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1109/ESSDERC.2016.7599615)
• “RF performance of tri-gate GaN HEMTs,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 63, no. 11, pp. 4255–4261 (2016)
  M. Alsharef, M. Christiansen, R. Granzner, E. Ture, R. Quay, O. Ambacher, and F. Schwierz
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2016.2606701)
• “First demonstration of W-Band tri-gate GaN-HEMT power amplifier MMIC with 30 dBm output power,” International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2017
  E. Ture, P. Brückner, R. Quay, M. Alsharef, R. Granzner, F. Schwierz, and O. Ambacher
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1109/MWSYM.2017.8058452)