Cryogenic ultra-low noise amplification - InP PHEMT vs. GaAs MHEMT

We present a comparative study of 130 nm high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) fabricated on pseudomorphic InGaAs/InAlAs/InP (InP PHEMT) and InGaAs/InAlAs/GaAs (GaAs MHEMT) intended for ultra-low noise amplifiers (LNAs). The epitaxial growth, as well as the HEMT process, was performed simultaneously. When integrated in a 4-8 GHz 3-stage LNA at 300 K, the measured average noise temperature was 34 K for the GaAs MHEMT and 27 K for the InP PHEMT. When cooled down to 10 K, the InP PHEMT LNA was improved to 1.6 K, while the GaAs MHEMT LNA was only reduced to 5 K. The reason for the superior cryogenic noise performance of the InP PHEMT compared to the GaAs MHEMT in this study, was found to be a higher quality of pinch-off when cooled down.

[1]  A. Leuther,et al.  20 NM metamorphic HEMT WITH 660 GHZ FT , 2011, IPRM 2011 - 23rd International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials.

[2]  J. Schleeh,et al.  Characterization and Modeling of Cryogenic Ultralow-Noise InP HEMTs , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[3]  M. Pospieszalski.  Modeling of noise parameters of MESFETs and MODFETs and their frequency and temperature dependence , 1989 .

[4]  W. Marsden.  I and J , 2012 .

[5]  H. Zirath,et al.  Ultralow-Power Cryogenic InP HEMT With Minimum Noise Temperature of 1 K at 6 GHz , 2012, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[6]  M. Pospieszalski,et al.  Extremely low-noise amplification with cryogenic FETs and HFETs: 1970-2004 , 2005, IEEE Microwave Magazine.

[7]  W. Deal,et al.  Low Noise Amplification at 0.67 THz Using 30 nm InP HEMTs , 2011, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[8]  A. Leuther,et al.  4–12- and 25–34-GHz Cryogenic mHEMT MMIC Low-Noise Amplifiers , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.