Gallium Nitride (GaN) high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) offer advantages formicrowave power applications. Scaling GaN HEMTs for millimeter-wave (mmWave)
bands introduces trade-offs involving device passivation, current collapse, and parasitic
capacitance. Most applications for mmWave HEMTs require linear operation include
low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) and power amplifiers (PAs). For LNAs, precise modeling
of noise figure (NF) and input intercept point (IIP3) is essential for mm-wave front-end
circuit simulation, particularly in the context of reducing DC power consumption (PDC).
This research introduces a modified MIT Virtual Source GaN-HEMT (MVSG) model
specifically for N-polar HEMTs, and demonstrates its predictive accuracy for prototype
devices. The extraction methodology is developed for a mm-wave HEMT model from
device characterization. The impact of different physical features of the N-polar model
is quantitatively described. IV characteristics, S-parameters, and two-tone load-pull
measurements were performed for experimental corroboration. The dual-threshold model
has provisions for tuning physical parameters, predicting the device performance, and
optimizing the linear gain efficiency (LGE).
In the context of 5G applications, this work also proposes a passive load-switching
topology as a generalizable tuning approach that can be applied to various device technologies. Load modulation for high average efficiency and static tuning in the presence of
load variation is described. The application of POLM to GaN PAs at 28 GHz is discussed
and verified through measurements.