An overview on recent developments in RF and microwave power H-terminated diamond MESFET technology

Thanks to its wide bandgap, exceptionally high thermal conductivity and relatively high carrier velocities, diamond exhibits attractive semiconductor properties that make it an interesting candidate for high power, high frequency and high temperature solid-state microelectronic devices, able to withstand harsh environmental conditions (in terms of temperature and/or radiation). The development of a diamond transistor technology has been restricted for many years due to the difficulty in implementing conventional acceptor or donor bulk doping strategies with satisfactory activation at room temperature. More recently, a breakthrough in diamond MESFET technology was represented by the introduction of surface diamond p-doping by means of H-termination, opening the way to interesting development in the microwave field. The paper presents an overview on recent developments in H-terminated diamond MESFETs for power RF and microwave applications. After an introduction to the diamond technology and device state-of-the-art performance, the physics-based and large-signal modeling of diamond MESFETs is discussed.