GaN HFETs with excellent low noise performance at low power levels through the use of thin AlGaN Schottky barrier layer

State-of-the-art noise performance of AlGaN/GaN HFETs in the 2-20 GHz frequency range for ultra low power operation of 10 mW (10 mA drain current and 1 V drain bias) is reported. A record low minimum noise figure (NF/sub min/) of 0.4 dB with 16 dB associated gain at 5 GHz was measured. The NF/sub min/ is below 0.8 dB across the 2-12 GHz frequency-band, with associated gains of better than 12.5 dB. This noise performance is achieved by using a vertically scaled device structure where the thickness of the AlGaN Schottky layer is reduced to 15 nm compared to the standard thickness of 30 nm previously used for our baseline devices. Indeed. NF/sub min/ of the scaled device is better than the baseline device across the 2-20 GHz band.