An extremely low-noise InP-based HEMT with silicon nitride passivation

This paper presents the fabrication, DC, pulsed I-V characteristics, and noise performance of a silicon nitride passivated InP-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). At 63 GHz, the 0.1 /spl mu/m gate length passivated HEMT had a minimum noise figure of 0.8 dB and an associated gain of 7.6 dB. Also, an unpassivated transistor fabricated on the same epitaxial wafer exhibited a record 0.7 dB noise figure with an associated gain of 8.6 dB at 62 GHz. These results are the best V-band low noise performance reported for both passivated and unpassivated devices.< >