Bias and temperature-dependent noise modeling of microwave and millimeter-wave field-effect transistors

This work advances FET noise modeling capabilities at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies in the areas of equivalent circuit modeling, noise parameter measurement and low-noise circuit theory. Foremost, a powerful set of experimentally developed bias and temperature dependent microwave FET noise modeling procedures are applied to metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). These procedures form the basis of a comprehensive software tool set for FET noise parameter modeling. Design analysis enabled by the resulting computationally efficient model satisfies a fundamental need to simulate microwave integrated circuit (MIC) and monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) transistor performance over the range ;At a physical level, an ambient temperature change causes microwave frequency FET amplifier gain and noise figure to change with respect to the semiconductor energy bandgap and electron mobility. However, by applying proper modeling techniques, a resulting table of equivalent circuit element thermal coefficients provides a powerful database for FET simulation. The model resulting from this work also allows the study of FET physics over a wide range of conditions, which is noticeably lacking in the available literature.;This work compares differing III-V FET technologies in terms of thermally induced variations in their equivalent circuit elements, noise model coefficients, and figures of merit. Based on interpretation of experimentally extracted models, this work finds the large electron inter-valley scattering energy, ;A related effort developed a novel method of determining linear two-port noise parameters for an FET that does not require a variable input admittance tuner. Instead, this method makes use of noise figure data measured at one known source admittance and knowledge of the small signal equivalent circuit model to develop a noise model of the FET.;For the first time, a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) series feedback circuit is employed to achieve an electronically cold noise temperature at K-band frequencies (18-22 GHz). This achievement resulted from advances in the theory, design, modeling, and measurement of FET-based noise sources. One new expression resulting from this analysis is the reverse noise measure, M...