Millimeter-wave gallium nitride maturation of 40nm T3 gallium nitride monolithic microwave integrated circuit process

Future microelectronics systems will rely on gallium nitride (GaN) devices able to operate at higher frequencies. Smaller gate length nodes enable such applications but have their own manufacturing challenges. HRL Laboratories offers a 40nm T3 GaN process with fT and fmax of 160/360GHz, power density up to 2W/mm, and noise figure of 1.8dB at 94GHz. Under internal and DARPA funding, this process has been matured for improved performance, yield, and cycle time. The process is monitored through three standard evaluation circuits covering X-, Ka-, and W-band and their performance correlates well with pulsed-current measurements. HRL has also matured the metalembedded chiplet assembly for microwave integrated circuit (MECAMIC) technology and built demonstration circuits.