60 GHz low-noise high-electron-mobility transistors

The noise performance of 0.25 μm-gate-length high-electron-mobility transistors at frequencies up to 62 GHz is reported. A room-temperature extrinsic transconductance gm of 480 mS/mm and a maximum frequency of oscillation fmax of 135 GHz are obtained for these transistors. At 30 and 40 GHz the devices exhibit minimum noise figures of 1.5 and 1.8 dB with associated gains of 10.0 and 7.5 dB, respectively. A minimum noise figure as low as 2.7 dB with an associated gain of 3.8 dB has also been measured at 62 GHz. This is the best noise performance ever reported for HEMTs at millimetre-wave frequencies. The results clearly demonstrate the potential of short-gate-length high-electron-mobility transistors for very low-noise applications for frequencies at least up to V-band.