Design, fabrication and characterization of a Schottky diode on an AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT structure for on-chip RF power detection

Abstract

A Schottky diode was designed and fabricated on an n-AlGaAs/GaAs high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structure for RF power detection. The processing steps used in the fabrication were the conventional steps used in standard GaAs processing. Current–voltage measurements showed that the devices had rectifying properties with a barrier height of 0.5289–0.5468 eV. The fabricated Schottky diodes detected RF signals well and their cut-off frequencies up to 20 GHz were estimated in direct injection experiments. To achieve a high cut-off frequency, a smaller Schottky contact area is required. The feasibility of direct integration with the planar dipole antenna via a coplanar waveguide transmission line without insertion of matching circuits was discussed. A higher cut-off frequency can also be achieved by reducing the length of the coplanar waveguide transmission line. These preliminary results represent a breakthrough as regards direct on-chip integration technology, towards the realization of a ubiquitous network society.