AIGaN/GaN HEMT with Distributed Gate for Improved Thermal Performance

This paper reports a novel type of distributed gate (DG) HEMT fabricated using isolation by oxygen plasma. The technique results in planar devices with low gate leakage currents of only $1.3 \mu \mathrm{A/mm}$ at −20 V gate voltage for devices with gate periphery of 1 mm. The DG-HEMT improves the thermal performance by reducing the current drop at higher drain voltages leading to higher output powers.