On-state distortion in high electron mobility transistor microwave and RF switch control circuits

Author

Caverly, Robert H. ; Heissler, Kennith J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Villanova Univ., PA, USA

Volume

48

Issue

1

fYear

2000

fDate

1/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

98

Lastpage

103

Abstract

The origin of the distortion generating mechanism in microwave and RF control circuits using high electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) is presented in this paper. A model is presented for predicting the distortion in series-connected HEMT switches. The theoretical discussion shows that turn-off voltages in the range of 1.0-1.5 V provide the lowest distortion in series switch configurations. A comparison of the HEMT snitch with MESFET switches shows that the HEMT switch generates more distortion than its MESFET counterpart. In addition, the frequency response of HEMT switches is the opposite of the MESFET switch, with less distortion at low frequencies. The model is validated with experimental data taken on a AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT in the series switch configuration

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; electric distortion; field effect transistor switches; frequency response; gallium arsenide; microwave circuits; microwave switches; 1.0 to 1.5 V; AlGaAs-GaAs; III-V semiconductors; distortion generating mechanism; frequency response; high electron mobility transistor; on-state distortion; series-connected HEMT switches; switch control circuits; turn-off voltages; Frequency response; HEMTs; MESFETs; MODFETs; Microwave circuits; Microwave generation; Predictive models; Radio frequency; Switches; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.817477

Filename

817477