Exploration on the impact of barrier thickness, gate recess, and lateral scaling on AlGaN/GaN SRL HEMT on silicon for future RF power electronics

AlGaN/GaN strain relief layer high-electron mobility transistors (AG SRL HEMT) on silicon wafers are attracting a lot of attention due to their cost effectiveness and potential for scalability. In this paper, precise simulation results of AG SRL HEMT on silicon wafer were studied for RF and power electronic applications. Here, the effect of barrier thickness, gate recess, work function, source-to-gate scaling, and drain-to-gate scaling on the RF/DC performance of AG SRL HEMT were studied. The Maximum drain current (I_D) for this HEMT with barrier thickness (t_B) = 6 nm reached 1.12 A/mm, and maximum G_M (transconductance) achieved in this work is 656.1 mS/mm at t_B = 6nm with 4 nm gate recess (t_R). An L_GS of 300 nm and L_GD of 800 nm result in a cut-off frequency (f_T) of 193 GHz. This exceptional DC/RF performance can be attributed to robust carrier confinement and diminished leakage current due to strain relief layers. Such remarkable performance positions them as a promising option for future RF power electronics and Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit design (MMIC) on Si substrate.