Cryogenic Ultra-Low Noise InP High Electron Mobility Transistors
Doctoral thesis, 2013

Indium phosphide high electron mobility transistors (InP HEMTs), are today the best transistors for cryogenic low noise amplifiers at microwave frequencies. Record noise temperatures below 2 K using InP HEMT equipped cryogenic low noise amplifiers (LNAs) were demonstrated already a decade ago. Since then, reported progress in further reducing noise has been slow. This thesis presents new technology optimization, modeling, measurements and circuit implementation for the cryogenic InP HEMT. The findings have been used to demonstrate a new record minimum noise temperature of 1 K at 6 GHz. The thesis considers aspects all the way from material, process and device design, to hybrid and monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) LNAs. The epitaxial structure has been developed for lower access resistance and improved transport characteristics. By investigating device passivation, metallization, gate recess etch, and circuit integration, low-noise InP HEMT performance was optimized for cryogenic operation. When integrating the InP HEMT in a 4-8 GHz 3-stage hybrid LNA, a noise temperature of 1.2 K was measured at 5.2 GHz and 10 K operating temperature. The extracted minimum noise temperature of the InP HEMT was 1 K at 6 GHz. The low-frequency 1/f noise in the 1 Hz to 1 GHz range and gain fluctuations in the 1Hz to 100 kHz range have been measured for six different types of HEMTs, and compared to two different SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). The results showed that radiometer chop rates in the kHz range are needed for millimeter wave radiometers with 10 GHz bandwidth. A comparative study of GaAs metamorphic HEMTs (mHEMTs) and InP HEMTs has been performed. When integrated in a 4-8 GHz 3-stage LNA, the InP HEMT LNA exhibited 1.6 K noise temperature whereas the GaAs mHEMT LNA showed 5 K. The observed superior cryogenic noise performance of the InP HEMT compared to the GaAs MHEMT was related to a difference in quality of pinch-off as observed in I-V characteristics at 300 K and 10 K. To demonstrate the low noise performance of the InP HEMT technology, a 0.5-13 GHz and a 24-40 GHz cryogenic monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) LNA was fabricated. Both designs showed state-of-the-art low noise performance, promising for future radio astronomy receivers such as the square kilometer array.

MMIC

LNA

cryogenic

low noise

DC power dissipation

ALD

GaAs MHEMT

gain fluctuations

InP HEMT

Kollektorn, MC2, Kemivägen 9, Chalmers
Opponent: Marian W Pospieszalski, Dr., National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO),Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Author

Joel Schleeh

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics

Characterization and Modeling of Cryogenic Ultralow-Noise InP HEMTs

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices,;Vol. 60(2013)p. 206-212

Journal article

Cryogenic Broadband Ultra-Low-Noise MMIC LNAs for Radio Astronomy Applications

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques,;Vol. 61(2013)p. 871-877

Journal article

Passivation of InGaAs/InAlAs/InP HEMTs using Al2O3 atomic layer deposition

Conference Proceedings - International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials. 2011 Compound Semiconductor Week and 23rd International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials, CSW/IPRM 2011, Berlin, 22-26 May 2011,;(2011)

Paper in proceeding

Ultralow-Power Cryogenic InP HEMT With Minimum Noise Temperature of 1 K at 6 GHz

IEEE Electron Device Letters,;Vol. 33(2012)p. 664-666

Journal article

Cryogenic Performance of Low-Noise InP HEMTs: a Monte Carlo Study

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices,;Vol. 60(2013)p. 1625-1631

Journal article

Areas of Advance

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (SO 2010-2017, EI 2018-)

Infrastructure

Nanofabrication Laboratory

Subject Categories

Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

ISBN

978-91-7385-944-8

Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 3626

Kollektorn, MC2, Kemivägen 9, Chalmers

Opponent: Marian W Pospieszalski, Dr., National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO),Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

More information

Created

10/7/2017