Heterojunction fet incorporates 'world's lowest' noise characteristics

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Renesas Electronics has announced an ultra low noise heterojunction field effect transistor (fet) which it says has 'industry leading' low noise characteristics for 20GHx satellite broadcast reception applications.

The NE3520S03 fet features a semiconductor chip with an epitaxial structure designed to speed up the electron velocity and reduce the source resistance. The epitaxial structure is multilayered and formed on the semiconductor substrate through crystal growth. Along with the process technology, it fabricates the gate and ohmic electrodes and determines the frequency performance of field effect transistors. Three dimensional electromagnetic field analysis was used to improve the performance of the products at high frequencies in the gigahertz class, while a hollow plastic package was employed to allow easy replacement of Renesas' existing NE3517S03 product. According to Renesas, this has resulted in a noise figure (nf) value of 0.65dB, which is 0.05dB lower than the existing product and among the lowest in the world for a mass produced product designed for the 20GHz band. The device has been designed for manufacturers of antennas for satellite broadcasts to improve the reception sensitivity of their products with signals such as hd tv broadcasts.