A procedure for the extraction of a nonlinear microwave GaN FET model

Journal article, 2017

In this paper, we describe an extraction procedure of nonlinear models for microwave field-effect transistor (FET). We use a nonlinear model available in commercial CAD tools, and we extract the parameters by combining direct extraction and numerical optimization. We determine a first estimate of the model parameters by few DC and S-parameter measurements. Next, we refine the parameters by optimization against low-frequency and high-frequency vector-calibrated large-signal measurements gathered with a Large-Signal-Network Analyzer (LSNA). As case study we consider a 0.25x200 mu m(2) GaN FET on SiC for power amplifier applications. Ultimately, we want to show that a good accuracy level can be achieved while minimizing the extraction effort and that an accurate model can be built and suitably tailored depending on the final application.