• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.71-80
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• 2019

Gallium nitride (GaN) can be used in high-voltage, high-power-density/-power, and high-speed devices owing to its characteristics of wide bandgap, high carrier concentration, and high electron mobility/saturation velocity. In this study, we investigate the technology trends for X-/Ku-band GaN RF power devices and MMIC power amplifiers, focusing on gate-length scaling, channel structure, and power density for GaN RF power devices and output power level and output power density for GaN MMIC power amplifiers. Additionally, we review the technology trends in gallium arsenide (GaAs) RF power devices and MMIC power amplifiers and analyze the technology trends in RF power devices and MMIC power amplifiers based on both GaAs and GaN. Furthermore, we discuss the current direction of national research by examining the national and international technology trends with respect to X-/Ku-band power devices and MMIC power amplifiers.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.53-64
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• 2021

As the 5G service market is expected to grow rapidly, the development of high-power, high-efficiency power amplifiers for the 5G communication infrastructure is indispensable. Gallium nitride (GaN) is attracting great interest as a key device in power devices and integrated circuits due to its wide bandgap, high carrier concentration, high electron mobility, and high-power saturation characteristics. In this study, we investigate the technology trends of Ka-band GaN radio frequency (RF) power devices and integrated circuits for operation in the millimeter-wave band of recent 5G mobile communication services. We review the characteristics of GaN RF high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) devices to implement power amplifiers operating at frequencies around 28 GHz and compare the technology of foreign companies with the device characteristics currently developed by the Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI). In addition, the characteristics of Ka-band GaN monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers manufactured using various GaN HEMT device technologies are reviewed by comparing characteristics such as frequency band, output power, and output power density of integrated circuits. In addition, by comparing the performance of the power amplifier developed by ETRI, the current status and future direction of domestic GaN power devices and integrated circuit technology will be discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.201-206
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• 2019

This report constitutes the first demonstration in Korea of single-crystal lateral gallium oxide ($Ga_2O_3$) as a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET), with a breakdown voltage in excess of 480 V. A Si-doped channel layer was grown on a Fe-doped semi-insulating ${\beta}-Ga_2O_3$ (010) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The single-crystal substrate was grown by the edge-defined film-fed growth method and wafered to a size of $10{\times}15mm^2$. Although we fabricated several types of power devices using the same process, we only report the characterization of a finger-type MOSFET with a gate length ($L_g$) of $2{\mu}m$ and a gate-drain spacing ($L_{gd}$) of $5{\mu}m$. The MOSFET showed a favorable drain current modulation according to the gate voltage swing. A complete drain current pinch-off feature was also obtained for $V_{gs}<-6V$, and the three-terminal off-state breakdown voltage was over 482 V in a $L_{gd}=5{\mu}m$ device measured in Fluorinert ambient at $V_{gs}=-10V$. A low drain leakage current of 4.7 nA at the off-state led to a high on/off drain current ratio of approximately $5.3{\times}10^5$. These device characteristics indicate the promising potential of $Ga_2O_3$-based electrical devices for next-generation high-power device applications, such as electrical autonomous vehicles, railroads, photovoltaics, renewable energy, and industry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1995.11a
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• pp.158-162
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• 1995

We report rf and power characteristics of AlGaAs/GaAs Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBTs) for X-band power applications. HBTs have been fabricated with polyimide a an interlayer dielectric. By characterizing the DC and RF characteristics we obtained the maximum current gain of 45, BV$\_$CEO/ of 10 V, fT of 30 GHz and f$\_$max/ of 17 GHz for device with 6x14$\mu\textrm{m}$$^2$emitter size. To extract accurate equivalent parameters, the De-embedded method was applied for extraction of parasitic parameters and the calculation of circuit equations for intrinsic parameters. Based on the Load-pull method, power characteristics was simulated and measured to get the maximum output power of the device.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.216-222
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• 2006

In this paper, we investigated the effect of hydrogen-plasma (H-plasma) treatment on the electrical and optical properties of a quantum dot infrared photodetector (QDIP) with a 5-stacked InAs dots in an InGaAs/GaAs well structure and $Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}As/GaAs$ SL (superlattice) current blocking layer. It has been observed that H-plasma treatment didn't affect the band structure of QDIP. It has been also observed that the H-plasma treatment on the QDIP not only enhance the electrical property of QDIP by curing the defect channels in $Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}As/GaAs$ SL but also introduce defects in QDIP structure. The H-plasma treatment for 10 min with 20 W of RF power provided the lowest dark current, which made it possible to measure the photo-current (PC) of QDIP whose PC was not detectable without the H-plasma treatment due to the high dark current.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.685-690
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• 2005

DC and RF characteristics of $0.15{\mu}m$ GaAs power metamorphic high electron mobility transistors (MHEMT) have been investigated. The $0.15{\mu}m{\times}100{\mu}m$ MHEMT device shows a drain saturation current of 480 mA/mm, an extrinsic transconductance of 830 mS/mm, and a threshold voltage of -0.65 V. Uniformities of the threshold voltage and the maximum extrinsic transconductance across a 4-inch wafer were 8.3% and 5.1%, respectively. The obtained cut-off frequency and maximum frequency of oscillation are 141 GHz and 243 GHz, respectively. The $8{\times}50{\mu}m$ MHEMT device shows 33.2% power-added efficiency, an 18.1 dB power gain, and a 28.2 mW output power. A very low minimum noise figure of 0.79 dB and an associated gain of 10.56 dB at 26 GHz are obtained for the power MHEMT with an indium content of 53% in the InGaAs channel. This excellent noise characteristic is attributed to the drastic reduction of gate resistance by the T-shaped gate with a wide head and improved device performance. This power MHEMT technology can be used toward 77 GHz band applications.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.44 no.7 s.361
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

The DC characteristics of GaAs Gunn diode are investigated as a preliminary study on the planar grade gap injector GaAs Gunn diode which is the transferred electron device with high output power and dc-rf conversion efficiency. The Gunn devices we fabricated were confirmed to have the DC characteristics of negative differential resistance(NDR). We discussed the nature of the NDR effect, including the electron intervalley transfer; the NDR effect was examined for six different cathode radii.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.21-29
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• 2008

The DC characteristics of GaAS Gunn diode are investigated as a preliminary study on the planar grade gap injector GaAs Gunn diode which is the transferred electron device with high output power and dc-rf conversion efficiency. The Gunn devices we fabricated were confirmed to have the DC characteristics of negative differential resistance(NDR). We discussed the nature of the NDR effect, including the electron intervalley transfer; the NDR effect was examined for six different cathode radii.

• Proceedings of the Korea Electromagnetic Engineering Society Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.182-185
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• 2002

A RE predistorted asymmetric Doherty amplifier for CDMA IS-95 signal has been fabricated using GaAs FETs. The Doherty amplifier used a Class AB main device and a Class C auxiliary device. At 6 ㏈ back-of from Pl ㏈ of 34 ㏈m, PAE of 27% was measured. This Doherty amplifier has higher PAE than Class AB for over 20 dB range of pout power. A RF predistortion linearizer is applied to the Doherty amplifier to improve the IMD cancellation performance. The 3rd order IMD cancellation of 12.2 ㏈ was achieved at output power of 18 ㏈m.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.713-721
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• 2004

This paper presents a high Performance LNA based on InGaP/GaAs HBT for 5.4㎓ WAM band applications. During the past days, InGaP/GaAs HBT has been being used for mainly high power amplifiers, but InCaP/GaAs is recognized as a suitable device for RF single chip. At this point, the research about a high performance LNA based on InGaP/GaAs HBT must be preceded, and in this paper, a excellent linearity and noise characteristics LNA based on InGaP/GaAs HBT is desisted and fabricated. The LNA is integrated in new of 0.9${\times}$0.9$\textrm{mm}^2$ single chip with high Q spiral inductors and MIM capacitors. The proposed LNA is biased at current point for optimum noise figure and gain characteristics, futhermore, excellent linearity is achieved. The proposed LNA shows 13㏈ gain, 2.1㏈ noise figure, and excellent linearity in terms of IIP3 of 5.5㏈m.