Title
High Performance Buffers for RF GaN Electronics

CoPED ID
b85d3de4-4952-4ba5-812a-77296bf75f29

Status
Closed

Funders

Value
£499,996

Start Date
Sept. 30, 2016

End Date
March 30, 2020

Description

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AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are a key enabling technology for future power conditioning applications in the low carbon economy, and for high efficiency military and civilian microwave systems. GaN-on-Si is highly attractive as a low cost, medium performance technology platform which has been proved to be usable even up to the W-band. The main down-sides of Si are the low bandgap and hence resistive lossy substrate especially at modest elevated temperatures, the vulnerability of the Si to unintentional doping with gallium during epitaxy causing RF losses, and the somewhat restricted power handling resulting from the relatively low thermal conductivity of the Si compared to the 4" SiC growth substrates currently used. However the cost benefits are dramatic allowing 6" or even 8" high volume wafer processing. 6" GaN-on-Si epitaxy is already available driven by the emerging GaN-on-Si power switch market, however it is optimised for high voltage, switched-mode operation. Improved RF power amplifier (PA) efficiency using GaN-on-Si, which is the focus of this proposal, would reduce the transistor temperature rise, reduce the substrate losses and deliver a low-cost high-performance technology as it would reduce the transistor temperature rise and reduce the substrate losses. The advance that is required is an optimised RF specific GaN-on-Si transistor architecture, which requires detailed understanding of electronic traps introduced into the GaN buffer of these devices by iron, carbon and carbon/iron co-doping, which is presently lacking. The key aim of this proposal is to control and model the device capacitances and conductances using novel epitaxial design of the GaN buffer, as this is key to delivering improved efficiency, gain and linearity in RF amplifiers.

Paul Tasker PI_PER
Jonathan Lees COI_PER
Michael Casbon RESEARCH_PER

Subjects by relevance
  1. Transistors
  2. Optimisation
  3. Electronics
  4. Temperature
  5. Amplifiers

Extracted key phrases
  1. GaN high electron mobility transistor
  2. High Performance Buffers
  3. High efficiency military
  4. RF GaN Electronics
  5. High volume wafer processing
  6. Cost high
  7. High voltage
  8. GaN buffer
  9. Si power switch market
  10. Si transistor architecture
  11. Low carbon economy
  12. Transistor temperature rise
  13. Si epitaxy
  14. Future power conditioning application
  15. Rf power amplifier

Related Pages

UKRI project entry

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