P5. GaN/AlN p-channel HFETs with Imax >420 mA/mm and ~20 GHz f_T / f_MAX
IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) (2020)
K. Nomoto, R. Chaudhuri, S. Bader, L. Li, A. Hickman, S. Huang, H Lee, HW Then, A Molnar, HG Xing, and D Jena.
Featured in EE World Online, Industrial News
The first p-channel nitride transistors that break the GHz speed barrier are demonstrated. By leveraging the unique single-channel high-density polarization-induced 2D hole gas of the GaN/AlN heterostructure, best-in-class contact resistances, and scaled T-gate design, p-channel transistor on-currents of 428 mA/mm are observed, with cutoff frequencies in the 20 GHz regime. These observations demonstrate the unique enabling role of the polarization discontinuity at the GaN/AlN semiconductor heterojunction and offer significant hope for a new high-speed and high-voltage wide-bandgap CMOS device platform for applications in RF and power electronics domains.