Gallium Nitride electronics for cryogenic and high frequency applications

Abstract

Cryogenic and high frequency electronics have received renewed attention due to their application in the control and readout electronics of quantum computing systems, among others. The potential of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs for cryogenic high frequency application was explored. The performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with both conventional gate material (Ni/Au) and superconducting gate material (NbN) was studied at cryogenic temperature. Furthermore, in order to study device-circuit interaction of the devices, a simulation framework bridging the device-level and circuit-level was developed. The framework was tested on two device concepts, namely GaN p-channel FETs for complementary logic application and the vertical fin transistor for high power RF application.