Achievement of balanced high frequency and high breakdown by InGaAs-based high-electron-mobility transistors with slant field plates

Abstract

InGaAs-based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with SiCN-based multistep slant field plates (FPs) and two-step recess (TSR) gates are fabricated and characterized. The slant FPs, which were originally developed for GaN-HEMTs, are integrated with InGaAs-HEMTs to increase the breakdown voltage (BV). The BVs of InGaAs-HEMTs increase by a factor of 1.5–2. However, FPs have a negative effect on the current gain cutoff frequency (f T). Consequently, BV and f T have a trade-off relationship. The combination of slant FPs and TSR gates enables the achievement of a balanced BV and f T of 8.0 V and 106 GHz, respectively, in 130-nm-gate-length InGaAs-HEMTs.