First Demonstration of High PAE Performance Using InGaN Channel HEMT for 5G RF Applications

The conventional GaN channel HEMT will suffer the significant short channel effect and high-temperature degradation due to its weak channel confinement. Although the InGaN channel double-heterostructure HEMT (DH-HEMT) has been reported to address this issue well due to the strong quantum confinement, the efficiency of the InGaN channel lacks investigation. In this work, a high PAE performance of the InGaN channel heterostructure has been reported for the first time. The fabricated InGaN channel device with a gate length of 200-nm achieved a high fT/fmaxof 36.7 and 97 GHz, respectively. 3.6 GHz continuous-wave load-pull measurements gain a high power-added efficiency (PAE) of 59.4 %, and an associated output power density (Pout) of 2.14 W/mm at VDS= 20 V. It is the first time for the InGaN channel achieved so high PAE performance, the results presented here are benchmarked against the state-of-the-art (SOA) InGaN channel. This work illustrated that the InGaN channel with reasonable design can boost the 5G base-station applications.