A new low-noise AlGaAs/GaAs 2DEG FET with a surface undoped layer

A high-performance N-AlGaAs/GaAs selectively doped two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) FET with a surface undoped layer has been designed and demonstrated. Simple analysis based on the short-channel approximation revealed that an increase in a total layer thickness between a gate electrode and 2DEG at a hetero-interface results in a higher cutoff frequency and a lower noise figure than conventional 2DEG FET's. This is because the gate capacitance can be markedly reduced without a significant decrease in the transconductance owing to a parasitic source resistance. The surface undoped layer intentionally employed in this work can permit the total layer thickness to increase, i.e., the gate capacitance to reduce, without changes in the 2DEG density and in the source resistance. This structure also gives high gate breakdown voltage because of a small neutral region in n- (AlGa)As and a low surface electron field, which possibly yields excellent performance 2DEG FET's for practical use. Fabricated (AlGa)As/ GaAs 2DEG FET's exhibited noticeable room-temperature performances of 0.95-dB noise figure with 10.3-dB associated gain at 12- and 45-GHz cutoff frequency. These are the best data ever reported for 0.5-µm gate length FET's.