industry  GaAs microelectronics


from a double recess process to a single one. The set of characteristics associated with the latest D-mode pHEMT fulfil the power handling requirements for RF switches.


Improvements in the pHEMT wrought with the new H2W process include a higher drive current; superior transconductance and on-resistance; and lower leakage currents in the channel and gate regions (see Figure 4).


We characterised our RF switch using a single 9 x 125 µm device, 20 kΩ gate isolation resistors and a source-drain balance resistor. This revealed that the new H2W process reduced insertion loss compared to its predecessor, with losses falling from 0.15 dB to 0.1 dB.


Testing of switch linearity showed excellent rejection of higher harmonics (see Figure 5), and the switching speed for pHEMTs produced with the PH50-20 process was just 1.5 µs. The results demonstrate that the pHEMT made with the PH50-20 process is suitable for low loss, high power and high linearity switch applications.


The great performance of these pHEMTs, and the HBTs that accompany them, demonstrate the high- quality of BiHEMTs produced by our new H2W process. The die that result are smaller than before, can be produced more quickly with a foundry process yield exceeding 95 percent, and they are very attractive candidates for making UMTS and LTE power amplifiers with excellent linearity and efficiency figures, which are needed for the latest smartphones and tablets.


 The author thanks WIN’s team members who supported the measurements and process development.


© 2012 Angel Business Communications. Permission required.


Figure 5.80 dBc of second-harmonic and third-harmonic rejection ratios were obtained when device was biased at -3V


Table 1.WIN’s latest H2W process produces HBTs and pHEMTs with a strong set of characteristics October 2012 www.compoundsemiconductor.net 51


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