Hydrogen terminated diamond MESFETs: new technology for RF power applications

Metal-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MESFETs) are fabricated on hydrogen terminated chemical vapour deposited diamond substrate with sub-micron gate length. Ohmic contacts and passivation technologies are optimized for power applications. DC and RF preliminary measurements are performed and encouraging results in terms of hydrogen termination stability are achieved. Drain to Source current of more than 200 mA/mm is obtained with 80 mS/mm for transconductance. Maximum Oscillation Frequency is about 30 GHz with a current gain at 1 GHz around 23 dB. Load-pull measurements will be performed in order to investigate RF power performances of such promising devices.