GaAs pseudomorphic HEMTs for low voltage high frequency DC-DC converters

Efficient power conversion at high switching frequencies requires switching transistors with a low gate charge to limit the switching losses in addition to low specific ON resistance. We report two integrable GaAs switching pHEMTs, 14 V enhancement mode and 7 V depletion mode transistors that show much superior switching figure of merit (R_on times Q_G) than that of state-of-the-art silicon MOSFETs. These transistors can achieve highly efficient DC-DC power conversion at 100 MHz and beyond.