50 nm MHEMT technology for G- and H-band MMICs

A metamorphic HEMT (MHEMT) MMIC technology including circuit applications is presented. The MHEMT layers are MBE grown on 4-inch GaAs wafers. The technology is based on a 50 nm gate length MHEMT and includes a 50 µm substrate backside process with dry etched through-substrate vias. For the electron confinement an In(0.8)Ga(0.2)As/In(0.53)Ga(0.47)As composite channel was used. The devices are passivated with BCB and SiN to achieve a median time-to-failure of 2.7 x 10(6) h in air. Cut-off frequencies f(t) and f(max) of 375 GHz were extrapolated for a 2 x 15 µm gate width device. Low-noise amplifiers with more than 15 dB gain in the frequency range from 192 GHz to 235 GHz were realized