A novel metamorphic high electron mobility transistors with (InxGa1-xAs)m/(InAs)n superlattice channel layer for millimeter-wave applications

High performance MHEMTs using (In
x
Ga
1-x
As)
m
/(InAs)
n
superlattice structure as a channel layer have been fabricated successfully. These HEMTs with 80 nm gate length exhibit high drain current density of 392 mA/mm at drain bias 1.0 V and transconductance of 991 mS/mm at drain bias 1.2 V. Comparison with regular In
x
Ga
1-x
As channel, the superlattice channel HEMTs show an outstanding performance because of high electron mobility, and better carrier confinement in the (In
x
Ga
1-x
As)
m
/(InAs)
n
channel layer. The current gain cutoff frequency (f
T
) and maximum oscillation frequency (f
max
) were extracted to be 304 GHz and 162 GHz, respectively. The device demonstrated a 0.75 dB noise figure with an associated gain 9.6 dB at 16 GHz. The excellent device performance shows that the superlattice channel can be practically used for high-frequency and millimeter-wave application.