Origin of noise in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures in the range of 1Hz-100 MHz and its up-conversion in high-frequency noise of oscillators

摘要

This paper gives an overview of our recently obtained results on investigation of noise properties in undoped AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors for the development of low-noise oscillators. The features observed in the carrier transport and noise spectra in two-dimensional AIGaN/GaN conducting channels grown on sapphire substrate are explained on the basis of a model taking into account the overheating effect and dynamic redistribution of potential. The low-frequency noise investigation of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown on SiC substrate showed that passivation significantly decreased the level of channel noise, but the noise coming from contact regions was found to be dominant in passivated devices. For the frequency range of 10-100 MHz in the structures, the fluctuations of electron concentration on the first quantum level of the quantum well and the scattering of the electrons in the barrier have been established. The measured phase noise of the oscillator shows that the low-frequency noise of the microwave active device is up-converted into phase fluctuations of the high-frequency carrier. The up-conversion factor of the oscillator for an offset frequency of 100 kHz is only about 15 kHz/V, which results in very low oscillator phase noise of -105 dBc/Hz.