Sub-1-dB Noise Figure Performance of High-Power Field-Plated GaN HEMTs

In this letter, we report the state-of-the-art micro wave noise performance of discrete 0.15-μm-gate-length field plated (FP) GaN HEMTs. The FP GaN HEMTs yielded a peak fτ/f
_max
of 60 GHz/150 GHz at Vds = 10 V. An f
_max
of 230 GHz was obtained at Vds = 20 V. At 2.5 V, the source-drain bias and dc power dissipation of 200 mW/mm, a minimum noise figure (NF
_min
) of 0.89 dB, and an associated gain (AG) of 11 dB were measured at 10 GHz. At 20 GHz the NF
_min
and AG were 1.9 and 6.2 dB, respectively. The sub-1-dB microwave noise performance at 10 GHz is the best ever reported for FP high-power GaN HEMTs, which can be attributed to their lateral scaling and deep-submicrometer gate lengths.