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RF Semiconductor Devices Technology: History and Evolution, Prospects and

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SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018

RF Semiconductor Devices Technology: History and Evolution,

Prospects and Opportunities, Current and the Future

Muhibul Haque Bhuyan*

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Southeast University, Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract
The recent growth in application areas in civil and military telecommunication engineering and
technology has generated bulk consumer marketplaces for systems based on radio frequency
(RF)/microwave semiconductor devices. This paper describes a comprehensive review on
RF/microwave semiconductor device technology. The principal aim is to trace its history and
evolution stages, then to find out the present status and future prospects, potential civil and
military application areas, limitations, opportunities and challenges of RF semiconductor devices
as well as to explore its appropriateness for future RF device applications. While digging out, the
device physics of various compound and hetero-junction semiconductors’ characteristics are also
described so that the important reasons for the technological challenges of RF semiconductor
materials are well understood. Comparative pictures are also presented among various RF devices
in tabular forms in terms of their Figure of Merits (FOM).

Keywords: RF Electronics, RF Technology, RF Communication, Semiconductor Device.

I. Introduction The prime and crucial unit of the

Semiconductor electronic devices are playing semiconductor electronics industry is the
a vital role in driving the global economy over the transistors, either MOS or bipolar devices.
last few decades (M. H. Bhuyan, 2011). Therefore, Approximately 70% of all semiconductor
it has become an important topic of discussion due components are used in consumer related products
to its increasing influence on human society as worth of about US$350 billion. The number of
well as space explorations and military projects. transistors produced per year and the average cost
There is a strong correlation between the world with time as in Fig. 2, have been changing
GDP and semiconductor market’s revenue growth exponentially. In 2010, more than a billion
as shown in Fig. 1 (IHS 2018). transistors were produced for every person living
on the Earth (MI, 2018)!

Figure 1: Correlation between global economy and Figure 2: Number of transistors produced per year and
revenue growth of semiconductor industry (IHS 2018) transistor price with time (G. L. Arsov, 2013)

* Corresponding Author: Prof. Dr. Engr. Muhibul Haque Bhuyan, Professor and Chairman, Department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Southeast University, 251/A and 252, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka 1208, Email: muhibulhb@[Link]
 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018 29

There are various streams of semiconductor In this review paper, it is discussed about the
devices. The mainstream devices are mainly used history, evolution, types, structures, materials,
in microprocessors and memories. Only the modifications for performance improvement,
memory suppliers generated more than 28% of the construction, operation, current and future
total industry revenue in 2018 (IHS 2018). research trends on RF semiconductor devices.
Different RF device performance parameters
The device that operate frequency above 1
found from the literatures will also be presented.
GHz are called RF electronic device where RF
Finally, few application areas of RF electronics
transistor is the basic unit of construction. So, this
technology have been mentioned and then
is called the heart of information technology era.
concluding remarks on this device are given.
With the expansion of the smartphone use and
evolution of 5G technology (Fig. 3), devices are II. History, Evolution, Research and
using the nano scaled RF power semiconductor Industry of RF Semiconductor Devices
devices to get higher speed. With the increase in
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld (J. E. Lilienfeld, 1933),
the need for higher data rates and greater spectral
a physicist and electronic engineer, is credited
efficiency to be used for ever increasing high-
with the first patents on the field-effect transistor
speed mobile broadband internet connectivity.
(FET). He set out to find a solid-state replacement
This has also led to the implementation of Long
for the expensive and unreliable thermionic triode
Term Evolution (LTE), which is supposed to
that consumed large power and space. Two years
enhance the growth of the RF electronics market.
later, he presented the idea of the depletion mode
MOSFET. Metal Oxide Silicon Transistors
(MOST), which are built around field-effect
principles, dominate semiconductor electronics,
today after around 100 years. But the name
MOSFET, originated from the Fairchild marketing
department in October 1962 (C. H-T. Sah, 1988).
The notion of the inversion-mode MOSFET
was proposed by Oscar Heil in 1935. Using the
ideas of the ‘point-contact transistor’, Shockley
completed the description of the BJT on 23
January 1948 and filed a patent on 26 June 1948.
Shockley and his Bell Lab colleagues, Brattain and
Figure 3: Growth of subscribers for LTE (MI: 2018) Bardeen, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in
1956 for this great invention. Soon the BJT
The total market size of GaN-based RF
became the dominating device in semiconductor
devices will almost double within the next four
electronics (C. H-T. Sah, 1988). Since then device
years as shown in Fig. 4 (Yole, 2016).
engineers were trying to develop faster transistor.
Legends The first RF transistor with operating frequency at
[from top to bottom] GHz range was introduced in the late 1950s using
Ge-BJT. Later Si-BJTs became popular for RF
transistor during 1960-70s (C. Hu, 1999).
The concept of the hetero-junction bipolar
transistor (HBT) was first proposed by W.
Shockley in 1948 and then patented by him in
1951 (W. Shockley, 1951). But H. Kromer (H.
Kromer, 1957) developed the detailed theory and
analysis of HBTs. He found that it is possible to
raise the emitter injection efficiency () by using
an emitter material with a wider band gap than that
Figure 4: Forecast of GaN’s RF market (Yole, 2016) of the base material to get higher operating speed.
30 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018

In 1956, M. M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng available (S. Davis, 2010). These devices were
prepared a p-type inversion-channel Si MOSFET designed to replace the power MOSFETs in
using thermally grown oxide for the gate insulator. applications where switching speed or power
In 1958, the first integrated circuit was built at conversion efficiency is critical. The cost of these
Texas Instruments using two transistors made of transistors are similar to Si power MOSFETs but
Ge using gold wires for interconnections by Jack with the superior electrical performance of GaN.
Kilby who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in
While most integrated circuits fabricated
2000 for it. But the first patent is awarded to
during the 1960s and 1970s were based on bipolar
Robert Noyce for a monolithic silicon integrated
transistors, MOSFET-based circuits gained
circuit in April 25, 1961. The MOSFET
importance and took over the leading role in the
dramatically increased its importance in 1963
early 1980s. RF electronics technology becomes a
when Wanlass and Sah of Fairchild
part of the semiconductor electronics industry
Semiconductor first invented the CMOS
during 1970s and 80s because of its military
(Complementary MOS) circuit that reduces power
applications. After that its first civil applications
consumption and dissipation with less space due to
were introduced in 1980s when satellite TV
which MOSFETs have been the most widely used
channels started to use GaAs based devices around
semiconductor device since then. The first two
the 12 GHz frequency band. This created a market
commercial MOSFETs were announced in late
economy for the RF electronics. But actual mass
1964, one by Fairchild and a second by Radio
volume market economy was created in the early
Corporation of America (C. H-T. Sah, 1988). In
1990s when cellular telecommunication systems
1958, the first transistor that was operated at RF
started. This market is still growing upward.
frequency (1 GHz) was Ge BJT.
In the past, Si-MOSFET-based devices were
The major breakthrough in RF electronics
used in RF applications but these devices were
came when GaAs MESFET was introduced in
slow due to low mobility (~650 cm2/V.s) and
1965. Within the five years, the operating
surface roughness scattering of free electrons in
frequency of RF transistor was possible to enhance
the inversion channel. But today’s semiconductor
up to 30 GHz in 1970 (F. Cooke, 1971). During
devices use compound materials which has higher
1970-80s, Si BJTs and GaAs MESFET were
mobility (e.g., mobility of GaAs is ~4700 cm2/V.s
mainly used for RF electronic devices for
and that of GaN is ~1500 cm2/V.s).
operating frequency less than 4 GHz and 4-18
GHz respectively. In 1973, the first transistor with Consequently, RF transistors are based on III-
maximum operating frequency, fmax with around V compound semiconductors, mainly based on
100 GHz was introduced. GaAs and InP. However, Si and SiGe based
transistors are also used along with the wide band
In the late 1970s, high quality mono- gap materials based RF transistors, such as, SiC
crystalline hetero-structures using compound and III-Nitrides, (e.g. GaN). Transistors
semiconductors were introduced. Such as, manufactured using these technologies are called
AlGaAs/GaAs hetero-structures were developed at MOSFET, MESFET, HEMT, HBT, BJT etc.
Bell Labs with very high electron mobility (R. Though in the last decade, III-V based technology
Dingle et al., 1978). The first device, using dominates in the RF transistors’ markets, but very
AlGaAs/GaAs hetero-structure, introduced by any recently RF MOS has become a strong competitor
commercial manufacturer was Fujitsu, Japan in in this regard. Only the GaN based RF
1980 and they named it High Electron Mobility semiconductor device market was valued at
Transistor (HEMT) (T. Mimura et al., 1980). US$460.93 million in 2018 and is expected to
reach a value of US$1597.36 million by 2024, at a
The first gallium nitride metal semiconductor CAGR of 23.20% during the forecast period 2019-
field-effect transistors (GaN MESFET) were 2024. The RF power amplifier sub-segment is also
experimentally demonstrated in 1993 and they are expected to capture the largest market share, about
being actively developed (M. A. Khan et al, 1993). 40% of the global RF power semiconductor
In 2010, the first enhancement-mode n- market and is expected to create an incremental
channel GaN transistors became generally opportunity of US$10,817.6 million between 2018
and 2027. This is ascribed to the growth of the
 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018 31

Internet of Things (IoT), the advent of high speed

telecommunication network and widespread
applications across various industries. Statuses of
different semiconductor technologies for RF
transistors are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Status of different semiconductor technologies
for RF transistors
Maximum
Operating Preferred
Technology Status
Frequency, Applications
fop (GHz)
Si CMOS 5 R&D, P D/A, A/D Figure 5: Reported cutoff frequency versus gate length
Si LDMOS 3 P PA of MOSFETs (J. J. Liou et al., 2003)
Si BJT 5 P LN, PA However, only a high cut-off frequency is not
SiGe HBT 50 P, R&D LN, PA (?) the only requirement for a good RF transistor.
GaAs Another figure of merit (FOM) of RF device is the
20 P LN, PA
MESFET maximum frequency of oscillation, fmax, at which
GaAs HEMT 60 P LN, PA the unilateral power gain roll-offs to unity. Both of
GaAs HBT 30 P LN, PA (?) these frequency parameters (fmax and fT) should be
InP HEMT 200 R&D, P LN, PA as high as possible for proper operation of the
InP HBT 150 R&D, P PA device. A conservative rule of thumb is that fT
SiC MESFET 10 R&D, P PA should be equal to at least 10 times of the
AlGaN/GaN maximum operating frequency fmax.
20 R&D PA, LN (?)
HEMT Another important parameter of FOM is the
* A/D=Analog to Digital, D/A=Digital to Analog, LN=Low minimum noise figure, NFmin, which is the
Noise, P=Planning, PA=Power Amplifier, R&D=Research minimum amount of noise generated inside the
and Development,
transistor. It should be as small as possible.
III. Performance Measurement Parameters
Another critical parameter of FOM is the
of RF Semiconductor Devices output power, Pout, which is the RF power that can
Performance evaluation is done by using few be delivered to the load. Sometimes, this
parameters called Figures of Merit (FOM), which parameter is defined in terms of per unit area of
is the number or quantities of those parameters the device. It should be as high as possible.
that enable a device engineer to appraise the Therefore, all these four parameters of FOM
performance of a particular device and also to should be considered for RF applications. In 1980,
compare its performance with that of the other the reported output power of Si-BJT was 60W at
devices. An important measure of RF transistor is 2GHz and that of GaAs-MESFET was 10W at
the cutoff frequency, fT. At this frequency, the 10GHz.
short circuit forward current gain of the device
Properly designed III–V RF Field Effect
becomes unity. Figure 5 shows the cutoff
Transistors (MESFET and HEMT) show
frequency vs. gate length of n-channel MOSFETs.
comparable fmax and fT, but typically with fmax > fT.
From 50-100-nm channel length MOSFETs, the
The situation is different for Si MOSFETs for
cutoff frequency reached up to 200 GHz (H. S.
Momose et al., 2001). Applying a frequently used which one could either realize short-channel
transistors for high fT with substantially lower fmax
rule of thumb that the cutoff frequency should be
around 10 times the transistor’s operating or long-channel transistors for rather low fT with
higher fmax. Hence, trade-off is needed while using
frequency, one could use these devices to design
Si MOSFETs. It is reported that the tradeoff
integrated circuits operating up to 20 GHz, which
is higher than that for the great majority of modern resulted from the fact that a very high fmax can only
be achieved with transistors having a high fT and a
RF electronic devices.
low gate resistance, RG.
32 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018

To minimize the gate resistance, RG, metal al., 1987; G. L. Patton et al., 1988). Worldwide
gates with multi-finger mushroom structures are attention was directed toward the technology in
frequently used in III–V FETs. The gates of Si mid-1990 by the demonstration of a non-self-
MOSFETs are made of poly-silicon, which has a aligned SiGe HBT with a cut-off frequency of 75
much higher resistivity than a metal. Reducing RG GHz (G. L. Patton et al., 1990). Recent progress
is imperative for RF MOSFETs because RG not on the SiGe HBT will help to expand the market
only limits the power gain attainable at a certain share of MOSFETs in RF electronics. SiGe HBTs
frequency (and thus fmax), but also sets a lower offer excellent RF properties (high speed, i.e. both
limit to the minimum noise figure. There are high fT and fmax and low noise figure), as evidenced
several means to minimize the gate resistance of Si by the noise margin (NFmin) given in Table 2 (M.
MOSFETs, such as, H. Bhuyan, 2017).
1. Deposition of silicide on top of the poly- Table 2 State of the art noise figures of SiGe HBTs
silicon gate,
Cut-off Noise
2. Metal over gates on top of the poly-silicon
Frequency, Margin, Reference
gates, fT (GHz) NFmin (dB)
3. Multi-finger gates with small finger width. 2 0.14 H. Schumacher et al., 1997
4 0.18 H. Schumacher et al., 1997
Recently, considerable progress on increasing 10 0.20 D. R. Greenberg et al., 2002
the maximum frequency of oscillation of Si 26 1.50 D. R. Greenberg et al., 2002
MOSFETs has been made. In 1980, the reported 278 1.748 O. Esame et al., 2004
maximum frequency of oscillations of Si-BJT was
35GHz and that of GaAs-MESFET was up to During the last few years, considerable reports
100GHz. But later reported maximum frequencies have been devoted to realize SiGe HBTs from
of oscillation are: fmax of 193 GHz (fT of 178 GHz) standard CMOS processes. This makes pure Si-
for the 50-nm SOI-MOSFET (S. Narashima et al., based RF ICs possible, where SiGe HBTs are used
2001) and fmax of 185 GHz (fT of 120 GHz) of the in the critical parts which demand RF performance
80-nm SOI-MOSFET (T. Hirose et al., 2001). (such as frequency and noise performance) while
Because of the presence of Si/SiO2 interface, Si MOSFETs are employed in other components.
MOSFETs are noisier than other RF transistors. An interesting feature of SiGe HBTs is the fact
Reported minimum noise figures NFmin of that both fT and fmax between 50 and 100 GHz can
experimental Si MOSFETs were found around 1.5 be realized with an emitter width larger than 0.4
dB at about 15 GHz (F. Schwierz et al., 2003), and m (J. J. Liou et al., 2003). This is different from
MOSFETs become too noisy at even higher the RF Si MOSFET, which requires a much
frequency for practical microwave applications. smaller gate length to reach such high frequency
High-power microwave amplifiers used in the limits.
base stations for mobile communication systems, For evaluating RF devices, its performance
however, are designed for maximum operating characteristics parameters, such as, the cutoff
(and thus breakdown) voltage to deliver maximum frequency (fT), the maximum oscillation frequency
output power. For such kind of applications, very (fmax), the minimum noise figure (NFmin), gate
often, a different type of MOS device structure, length, gate width, break down voltage, output
called Laterally Diffused (LD) MOSFET, is used. power, power gain, power added efficiency (PAE),
Depending on the specific designs, typical fT of etc. are usually employed. Table 3 and Table 4
LDMOSFETs is around 5-15 GHz, and the provide a summary of the reported fT and fmax
approximate drain-to-source breakdown voltage values respectively obtained for the different III-V
(BVDS) is 20-40 V. HEMT devices in various literatures.
In the past, the preferred RF MOSFET GaAs HBTs are commercially available in the
structures were conventional single-gate bulk or market and generally used in RF power amplifiers
single-gate SOI MOSFETs. Technical progress in while InP HBTs are still not matured enough.
bringing SiGe HBT technology to reality has been Table 5 provides state-of-the-art GaAs and InP
exceptionally rapid. The first functional SiGe HBT based HBTs in terms of cut-off frequency and
was demonstrated in December 1987 (S. S. Iyer et maximum operating frequency. Both of these
 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018 33

devices can exihibit both frequency parameters Table 6 Record power related parameter values of
above 200 GHz. However, InP substrate is GaAs and InP HBT devices
expensive than that of GaAs. Freque PD
Device Pout GP PAE
ncy, f (mW/ Reference
Table 3 Record cutoff frequencies with gate length for Name
(GHz)
(W) 2
m )
(dB) (%)
different HEMT devices
B.
Cut-off Gate GaAs 10 0.6 10 7.1 60 Bayraktaroglu
Device Name Frequency, Length, Reference et al., 1993
fT (GHz) LG (nm) R. S. Virk et
InP 18 1.17 2.44 7.3 54
AlGaAs/GaAs A. N. Leopre et al., al., 1997
113 100
HEMT 1988
p-HEMT on L. D. Nguyen et al., From the beginning of the 90’s decade, SiC,
152 100 GaN and InN started to fascinate the device
GaAs 1989
mm-HEMT on D. L. Edgar et al., designers to use in high power RF applications due
200 120
GaAs 1999 to their higher break-down potentials, carrier
mm-HEMT on T. Suemitsu et al., concentrations and saturation velocities. Besides,
350 30
InP 1998 these are available in several types of crystal
p-HEMT on S. E. Rosenbaum et
InP
340 50
al., 1995
structures. Their two important parameters with
gate length are summarized in Table 7. It is
Table 4 Record maximum frequencies with gate length observed that as the gate length is reduced the
for different HEMT devices maximum and cut-off frequencies are increased.
Maximum Gate Table 7 Record maximum and cut-off frequencies with
Device Name Frequency, Length, Reference
fmax (GHz) LG (nm)
gate length for different wide band gap FET devices
AlGaAs/GaAs I. Hanyu et al., Gate Maximum Cut-off
151 240 Device
HEMT 1988 Length, Frequency, Frequency, Reference
Name
p-HEMT on K. L. Tan et al., LG (nm) fmax (GHz) fT (GHz)
290 100 S. T. Allen et
GaAs 1990 SiC 0.45 50 22
mm-HEMT on M. Zaknoune et al., al., 1998
400 100 S. T.
GaAs 1999 AlGaN/
mm-HEMT on 0.45 114 28 Sheppard et
455 150 P. Ho et al., 1991 GaN
InP al., 1991
p-HEMT on P. M. Smith et al., AlGaN/ M. Micovic
600 100 0.05 140 110
InP 1995 GaN et al., 2000

Table 5 Record cut-off and maximum frequencies of IV. Construction and Characteristics of a
GaAs and InP HBT devices
typical RF Semiconductor Device
Cut-off Maximum
Device A. Construction of LDMOSFET
Frequency, Frequency, Reference
Name
fT (GHz) fmax (GHz) A wide variety of semiconductor transistor
GaAs 156 255 T. Oka et al., 1998 technologies are used for RF power applications.
GaAs 138 275 T. Oka et al., 1997 These include Laterally Doped Metal Oxide
S. Yamahata et al., Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors
InP 144 267
1994
(LDMOSFETs), Bipolar Junction Transistors
S. Yamahata et al.,
InP 228 227 (BJTs) and Heterojuction Bipolar Transistors
1995
(HBTs) on Si substrates; Metal-Semiconductor
The prominent use of III-V HBT devices is in Field Effect Transistors (MESFETs), High
RF power amplifiers due to its high power Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) and HBTs
densities, good impedance matching and tiny chip on gallium arsenide (GaAs), and on indium
dimension. Table 6 provides a comparative picture phosphide (InP), and HEMTs on gallium nitride
of output power (Pout), power density (PD), power (GaN) and MESFETs on silicon carbide SiC. The
gain (GP) and power-added efficiency (PAE) choice of technology used for a particular
found from various literatures for III-V HBT application is dictated primarily by three criteria:
devices. cost, output power, and frequency (J. G. Fiorenza,
34 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018

2002). From the start of the 21st century, LDMOS Gate materials used in RF devices are shown
transistors are being used for cellular base stations in Table 8. Of course, HfO2 and its nitrides are
power amplifiers due to tremendous development being used in mainstream R&D industries.
of its architecture with an improvement in output Table 8 Use of gate materials in RG devices
power, power gain, power added efficiency,
Gate Materials Dielectric Permittivity
linearity, hot carrier reliability and thermal
NO stack 5-6
resistance (F. van Rijs, et al., 2006; P. J. van der Al2O3 8-9
Wel, et al., 2006; J. R. Gajadharsing, et al., 2004). HfSixOy 10-15
HfAlxOy 10-15
The advancement of RF LDMOSFETs over HfSixOyNz 10-15
the last few decades was primarily enabled by ZrO2, HfO2 20-30
three design improvements: gate length scaling, La2O3 15-30
gate resistance reduction, and process and layout
optimization. The gate lengths were scaled from B. Characteristics of GaAs MESFET
about 1.2 m to 0.35 m. The gate resistance was Some of the key characteristics include:
reduced by the use of tungsten silicide and metal
runners. The process and layout were optimized to i) High electron mobility: The use of Gallium
reduce the pad loss and optimize the finger length Arsenide or other high performance
and number of fingers. (J. G. Fiorenza, 2002). semiconductor materials gives high electron
mobility required for high performance RF
The cross-section of a typical high-power applications. MESFET semiconductor
LDMOSFET structure is shown in Fig. 6 (P. C. A. technology has enabled amplifiers using these
Hammes et al., 2004). It consists of a p+-Si devices that can operate up to 50 GHz and
substrate on top of a lightly doped p--layer grown more frequencies up to 100 GHz.
epitaxially. While the n+-source region extends to
the gate, the n+-drain region is spatially separated ii) Low capacitance levels: The use of Schottky
from the gate. The conductive connection between diode gate structure in RF MESFET provides
the n+-drain and the channel region underneath the very low stray capacitance which lends high
gate is realized by an n--LDD (lightly doped drain) frequency operation.
region which is frequently called the drift region. iii) High input impedance: The use of high-k
This is the main region contributing to a high dielectric at the gate of MESFET gives very
breakdown voltage. Typically, the gate length of high input impedance as compared to bipolar
LDMOSFETs is in the range of 0.3–1.0 m and transistors thus results in the non-conducting
the gate oxide is several nm thick. As such, the diode junction.
technology, especially the lithography and the gate
oxide deposition of LDMOSFET is much relaxed iv) Negative temperature coefficient: The
than that of the small signal microwave MOSFET. MESFET/GaAs FET has negative temperature
co-efficient which inhibits some of the thermal
problems experienced with other transistors.
v) Lack of oxide traps: When compared to the
more common silicon MOSFET, the GaAs
FET/ MESFET does not have the problems
associated with oxide traps.
vi) High level of geometry control: The MESFET
has better channel length control than a JFET.
Because, JFET requires a diffusion process to
create the gate The more exact geometries of
the GaAS FET/ MESFET provide a much
better and more repeatable product, and this
enables very small geometries suited to RF
Figure 6: Typical cross-section of a state-of-the-art
LDMOS structure (P. C. A. Hammes et al., 2004)
microwave frequencies to catered for.
 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018 35

V. Applications of RF Semiconductors amplify power, capacity, and the bandwidth

There are many technologies available in the required for communicating with all
RF semiconductor industry, each adapted to one or interconnected devices (MI, 2018).
several applications. RF devices are used as RF Development of MEMS technology is an
filters, RF switches, RF power amplifiers, other integral part of IoT devices, and will also have a
RF devices that are used in various industries, positive impact on the GaN RF semiconductor
which include telecommunication, automotive, devices market (MI, 2018).
consumer electronics, aerospace and defense.
Furthermore, the rising trend of digitalization
RF modules are electronic devices that enable and increase in the number of smart city projects
designers to transmit and receive radio signals in various countries around the world is also
between two devices. They enable wireless signal creating potential opportunities for the growth of
transmission and are used in wireless alarm the RF power semiconductor market.
systems, remote controls, automation systems and
smart sensor applications. Typical RF modules are GaN with a high crystalline quality can be
Bluetooth module, GPS module, RFID module, obtained by depositing a buffer layer at low
Zigbee module, WLAN module, UHF module, temperatures (H. Amano, 1986). Such high-quality
cellular module, proprietary RF modules etc. GaN led to the discovery of p-type GaN and p-n
junction blue/UV-LEDs (H. Amano, 1989) and
LDMOSFET technologies have been in the room-temperature stimulated emission (H. Amano,
dominant position in the wireless base station 1990) (essential for LASER action) (I. Akasaki,
applications for frequencies ranging from 450 1995). This has led to the commercialization of
MHz to 2.7 GHz for more than 20 years due to high-performance blue LEDs and long-lifetime
performance, cost, reliability, and power capability violet-laser diodes, and to the development of
advantages (G. Ma et al., 1996; H. Brech et al., nitride-based devices, such as, UV detectors and
2003). The operating frequencies of civil RF high-speed field-effect transistors. Increasing
applications can range from a few hundreds MHz demand for smartphones, gaming devices, laptops,
to 100 GHz, but most systems having mass tablets and TVs is expected to drive the GaN
markets operated at frequencies below 6 GHz. As semiconductor devices market in the consumer
third and fourth generations (3G and 4G) cellular electronics sector (MI, 2018).
systems, such as, W-CDMA are emerging, the
demand for transistors with increased output When doped with a suitable transition metal,
power has escalated in support of the RF power such as, manganese (Mn), GaN is a promising
amplifier designs required for base station Spintronics material (H. Morkoc, 1994).
infrastructure (C. P. Dragon et al., 2000). The Cellular phones are no doubt the most popular
number of units sold in these markets is of the wireless communication system currently in use.
order of billions per year. In wireless communications, the noise produced
The GaN RF semiconductor devices market is intrinsically in the RF devices is somewhat
segmented by application (defense and aerospace, negligible comparing to that from the noisy
communication, consumer electronics, automotive, environment. GaAs MESFETs and Si bipolar
industrial, data centers, renewable energy, and transistors as the traditional low-noise transistors
geography. Owing to the growth of the Internet of used in wireless communications, but the use of
Things (IoT), the advent of 5G network and MOSFETs, possibly merged with SiGe HBTs
widespread applications across various industry using a low-cost BiCMOS process, has become a
verticals will offer immense growth opportunities realistic option. Another requirement for the
to the RF GaN semiconductors market (MI, 2018). handset is the reduction of power consumption. At
present, a supply voltage of 3V has been
The successful implementation of IoT needs established as a standard. To deliver a high output
data transfer over a network without human-to- power combined with a high efficiency at a limited
computer interaction. Increasing implementation supply voltage of 3V, RF power transistors
of IoT will result in signal congestion and will possessing a large on-current and a low on-
demand the use of GaN technology that can resistance are required in the transmit section of
36 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018

the handset. MOSFETs are not the best devices for increasing day by day and it will continue to rise
this application due to the relatively low output in the future.
power density. GaAs transistors (especially GaAs
Four Gate SOI transistor’s multiple gate inputs
HBT) dominate this application. To date, the
give rise to exciting circuit opportunities for
dominant power RF transistor used in base stations
analog, digital, RF, and mixed-signal applications.
of wireless communications systems with
operating frequencies up to 2.8 GHz is the Si Vacuum channel transistors could be used for
LDMOSFET, which in the last several years has THz frequency operation, such as, sensing
replaced all other competing Si and GaAs hazardous chemicals, noninvasive medical
transistors. Si LDMOSFETs combine the diagnostics, high-speed telecommunications, as
advantages of moderate cost, high reliability and well as in extreme environments having high
extremely high output power (A. Wood et al., temperature and various radiations, military and
1996). Aside from cellular phones, several other space applications etc.
civil RF systems with operating frequencies below
VI. Conclusions
20 GHz are potential fields for the application of
RF MOSFETs as well. For example, Bluetooth, in Prior to 1980, only two RF transistor types (Si
which the requirements on transistor’s RF BJT and GaAs MESFET) existed. In 2001, a large
performance are quite moderate, is predestinated variety of different devices became available,
for RF MOSFETs. In fact, all-MOS Bluetooth including Si-CMOS, SiGe HBT, GaAs HBT,
products are commercially available. For other GaAs HEMT, InP HBT, InP HEMT, and wide
band gap FETs. Of them Si-CMOS devices have a
applications below 20 GHz but with more
clear cost advantage and are typically used for
stringent requirements concerning RF frequencies up to 2.5 GHz. However, applications
performance, the combination of SiGe HBTs and above 2.5 GHz use GaAs-based RF transistors.
CMOS (SiGe BiCMOS) is currently a heavily But high frequency applications above 40 GHz
discussed possibility in industry. Table 9 utilize mainly InP-based RF transistors. Because,
summarizes various RF applications and their InP-based HBTs and HEMTs possess the highest
frequency spectrums (J. J. Liou et al., 2003). cutoff frequency (fT) and maximum operating
Table 9 Civil RF systems operating below 6 GHz frequency (fmax) though InP-based devices suffer
from poor power performance. On the other hand,
Operating
Application Frequency GaAs-based HBT had been the most widely used
(GHz) HBT in RF design, but SiGe HBT has gained
Pagers 0.2-0.9 popularity recently due to its superior noise
Cellular phone (1G) 0.8-0.9 performance and its compatibility with the existing
Cellular phone (2G, 2.5 G) 0.9-1.9 Si-CMOS technology. Wide band gap RF devices
Cellular phone (2.5 G) 2.5 have huge potential due to its relatively high
Cellular phone (3G) 3.0 maximum operating frequency (fmax) and superior
GPS 1.8
power performance, but the difficulties with their
WLAN 2.4
Bluetooth 2.4
processing are hindering its growth of becoming
Microwave Oven 2.4 the mainstream RF devices
GPRS 2,5 RF semiconductor devices are still escalating
HiperLAN2 5.0
802.11a LAN (Wi-Fi) 5.15-5.825
its fields in the RF semiconductor industry. There
Collision avoidance RADAR in automobiles 77 is no doubt that MOSFETs are progressing quickly
and becoming a strong contender in the RF
Although RF MOSFETs seem to fulfill the applications traditionally dominated by III–V
most of the performance requirements for civil RF devices. Today's RF MOSFETs already fulfilled
systems with operating frequencies from several most of the performance requirements for civil RF
100 MHz up to 6 GHz, debates still existed as to systems. Rapid technology advancement, cost and
whether such devices will find widespread size reduction are expanding the numerous
applications in the market. Nevertheless, the applications of the RF MOS devices in residential,
importance of MOSFETs in RF applications is industrial, commercial, aerospace, military,
transportation and utility systems.
 SEU Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2018 37

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