GaN HEMTs: material, device, circuit technology and applications

With the rapid progress and maturation over the last several years, wide bandgap GaN-based HEMTs are now regarded as the next generation technology leader for high frequency and high power device applications as stated in U. K. Mishra et al. (2002). The Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1 - x/N-GaN heterostructure system enables high voltage, high current operation, resulting in the demonstration of > 10/spl times/ power performance than GaAs and Si technologies. The high RF power density (W/mm) translates into high watts per unit capacitance (W/pF), resulting in high impedance and simpler matching, an enabler for wide-bandwidth applications. This paper reviews the recent progress in material, device and circuit performance of GaN HEMTs by the Cree team.