The potential of p-well GaAs MESFET technology for precision integrated circuits

A p-well GaAs MESFET technology that totally eliminates sidegating between adjacent MESFETs is described. Both the small-signal output conductance (g/sub ds/) frequency dispersion, and the drain current transients of the p-well GaAs MESFET are reduced by more than an order of magnitude as compared with a conventional GaAs MESFET. The test chip used to develop the p-well MESFET technology is discussed. It includes an array of sidegate structures to test the importance of the various p-type layers and the importance of connecting the p-well to the source. Several analog building blocks and circuits are implemented, including fully-differential self-bootstrapped gain stages, transimpedance amplifiers with metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors, precision DC voltage references, and other operational amplifiers.<
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