Optical control and injection locking of monolithically integratedIn0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As MODFET oscillators

Optical tuning and injection locking characteristics of MMIC oscillators made with InP-based 0.25 μm gate In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In_0.52Al_0.48 As modulation-doped field-effect transistors (MODFETs) have been investigated. Optical tuning has been performed on the X- and R-band oscillator circuits and a maximum tuning range of 8.7 MHz and 11.7 MHz, respectively, has been measured. The tuning characteristics have been explained in terms of changes in the MODFET characteristics with absorption of incident light. Direct optical subharmonic injection locking of these oscillator circuits have been done at 10 and 19 GHz, which are the highest achieved for InP-based MMIC's     

7.1 GHz bandwidth monolithically integratedIn0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As PIN-HBT transimpedance photoreceiver

A monolithically integrated photoreceiver using an InAlAs/InGaAs HBT-based transimpedance amplifier has been fabricated and characterized. The p-i-n photodiode is implemented using the base-collector junction of the HBT. The 5 μm×5 μm emitter area transistors have self-aligned base metal and non-alloyed Ti/Pt/Au contacts. Discrete transistors demonstrated f_T and f_max of 54 GHz and 51 GHz, respectively. The amplifier demonstrated a -3 dB transimpedance bandwidth of 10 GHz and a gain of 40 dBΩ. The integrated photoreceiver with a 10 μm×10 μm p-i-n photodiode showed a -3 dB bandwidth of 7.1 GHz     

High-performance InP/In0.53Ga0.47As/InPdouble HBTs on GaAs substrates

InP/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) were grown on GaAs substrates. A 140 GHz power-gain cutoff frequency f_max and a 207 GHz current-gain cutoff frequency f_τ were obtained, presently the highest reported values for metamorphic HBTs. The breakdown voltage BV_CEO was 5.5 V, while the dc current gain β was 76. High-thermal-conductivity InP metamorphic buffer layers were employed in order to minimize the device-thermal resistance     

Reliability of vapor-grown planarIn0.53Ga0.47As/InP p-i-n photodiodes with veryhigh failure activation energy

The mean time to failure (MTTF) was measured for a statistically significant population of planar In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP heterostructure p-i-n photodetectors at several elevated temperatures. The probability for failure is fit to a log-normal distribution, with the result that the width of the failure distribution is σ=0.55±0.2, and is roughly independent of temperature. From the temperature dependence of MTTF data, it is found that the failure mechanism is thermally activated, with an activation energy of less than 1.5±0.2 eV measured in the temperature range of 170-250°C. This extrapolates to a MTTF of less than 0.1 failure in 10⁹ h (or <0.1 FIT) at 70°C, indicating that such devices are useful for systems requiring extremely high reliable components, even if operated at elevated temperatures for significant time periods. This activation energy is the highest value reported for In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP photodetectors, and is significantly higher than the energies of ~0.85 eV often suspected for these devices     

Monolithically integrated receiver front end: In0.53Ga0.47As p-i-n amplifier

Monolithically integrated InGaAs p-i-n amplifiers have been successfully fabricated. The structure utilizes a vertical integration of a p-i-n diode and recessed-gate InP MISFETs, while maintaining a planar surface for fine-line photolithography. The preamplifier consists of a gain stage and a buffer stage, both made of InP MISFETs with aluminium phosphorous oxide as gate insulator. At 400 Mb/s, the receiver sensitivity is better than -27 dBm for 1×10^-9 bit error rate     

高量子效率InP/In0.53Ga0.47As/InP红外光电阴极模拟

将In0.53Ga0.47As吸收层设计为多个薄层,通过不同浓度掺杂实现吸收层杂质指数分布,建立了InP/In0.53Ga0.47As/InP红外光电阴极模型,在皮秒级响应时间的前提下模拟了吸收层厚度、掺杂浓度和阴极外置偏压对阴极内量子效率的影响,给出了光电子在吸收层和发射层的一维连续性方程和边界条件,计算了光电子克服激活层势垒发射到真空中的几率,进而获得阴极外量子效率随上述三个因素的变化规律,结果表明,吸收层掺杂浓度在1015~1018 cm-3范围内变化时,内量子效率变化很小;随着吸收层厚度在0.09~0.81 m内增大,内量子效率随之增大;随着外置偏压升高,内量子效率先增大后趋于平稳。文中给出一组既能获得高量子效率又能有快时间响应的阴极设计参数,理论上1.55 m入射光可以获得8.4%的外量子效率,此时响应时间为49 ps。     

Highly sensitive In0.53Ga0.47As/InP Hallsensors grown by MOVPE

High performance InP/InGaAs Hall sensors appropriate for applications requiring high sensitivity at low power dissipation, good linearity, low temperature sensitivity, and high resolution are reported. The layer structures grown by MOVPE combine a high mobility In _0.53Ga_0.47As channel with isolation by semi-insulating InP. With this design bias current related sensitivities up to 760 V/AT at sheet resistances below 840 Ω/square have been achieved, allowing high output signals at low power dissipation. Due to the active layer isolation by semi-insulating InP, bias currents are not limited by channel pinch-off or junction breakdown. This leads to absolute sensitivities as high as 12.5 V/T. Linearity errors are lower than -0.8% up to magnetic fields of 0.5 T. Temperature coefficients of the sensitivity were measured for different donor concentrations of the active layer. The lowest value of -0.07%/K was found for a doping of 10 ¹⁶ cm^-3, in accordance with theoretical predictions. High signal-to-noise ratios corresponding to minimal detectable fields of 50 nT/Hz^l/2 and 160 nT/Hz^l/2, respectively, were measured at 1 kHz and 100 Hz     

High-performance In0.52Al0.48As/In0.53Ga0.47As HFET compatible with optical-detectorintegration

The authors report the successful demonstration of a 1.0-μm gate InAlAs/InGaAs heterojunction FET (HFET) on top of thick InGaAs layers using lattice-matched molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). This scheme is compatible with metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector fabrication. The authors measured the performance of InAlAs/InGaAs HFETs from 0 to 40 GHz. Device performance is characterized by peak extrinsic transconductances of 390 mS/mm and as-measured cutoff frequencies up to 30 GHz for a nominal 1.0-μm-gate-length HFET. HFET device measurements are compared for samples growth with and without the thick underlying InGaAs optical-detector absorbing layer     

Hot-electron transport in In0.53Ga0.47As

A set of physical constants for In_0.53Ga_0.47As as required for transport calculations is obtained by reviewing the literature. Velocities for fields up to 100 kV/cm, calculated by the Monte Carlo method using these constants, are presented for the temperatures of 95 and 300 K. The calculated values are found to be in good agreement with the available experimental results.     

High-performance undoped InP/n-In0.53Ga0.47AsMSM photodetectors grown by LP-MOVPE

A new high-performance undoped In_0.53Ga_0.47As metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector (MSM-PD) with an undoped InP barrier-enhancement layer is reported. The layers were grown by the low-pressure metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (LP-MOVPE) technique. The main features of this device include: a very low dark current of less than 60 nA, (100×100) μm², at 1.5 V; a short risetime of 30 ps at 6 V; and a high responsivity of 0.42 A/W for λ=1.3 μm     

InP/In0.53Ga0.47As heterojunction bipolartransistors with a carbon-doped base grown by MOCVD

InP/In_0.53Ga_0.47As heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) utilizing a carbon-doped base have been demonstrated. The devices were grown by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) using carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) as the p-type dopant source. These devices exhibit a DC common-emitter current gain of 50 and an emitter-base junction ideality factor of 1.29 in a structure for which no undoped spacer layer was employed at the emitter-base junction. These preliminary results suggest that C-doping of In_0.53Ga_0.47As may be a suitable alternative to Zn in MOCVD-grown InP/In_0.53Ga_0.47As HBTs     

In0.53Ga0.47As/InP floating guard ringavalanche photodiodes fabricated by double diffusion

In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP separate absorption and multiplication region avalanche photodiodes (SAM-APDs) with doubly diffused floating guard rings have been demonstrated. The planar, front-side illuminated devices are easily fabricated and incorporate strong guarding against edge and surface breakdown. Edge gain is suppressed both by the action of the floating guard rings and by the grading of the p-n junction at the outer edges of the active region that results from the second diffusion. Uniform gains as high as 85 have been measured at multiplied dark currents <100 nA. Multiplied dark currents below 5 nA have been measured at 90% of breakdown, with capacitances below 400 fF for front-side illuminated devices. The low values of dark current and capacitance, as well as the ease of fabrication, make the devices well suited for fiber-optic applications     

Temporal response characteristics of a In0.53Ga0.47As/InP quantum well phototransistor

An investigation of multiple-quantum-well heterojunction phototransistors with InGaAs/InP quantum wells in the collector and InGaAsP base is discussed. The design of the structure ensures that light is absorbed only in the quantum-well region, thus providing a way to study the correlation between quantum well and phototransistor carrier dynamics. Moreover, since the operation of a n-p-n phototransistor is governed by hole injection into the base, the transient behavior of the device reflects the hole dynamics in the multiple-quantum-well region. The response of the device to picosecond optical pulses shows strong dependence on bias conditions: from device response determined by minority carrier recombination time (~2 ns) at high base-emitter bias, to current time constant dominated response (~50 ps) at low base-emitter bias. The field dependent escape times of carriers from the quantum wells under different bias conditions are obtained (10-100 ps) and are seen to affect the risetime of the transistor to pulsed photoexcitation     

Tunneling between two quantum wells: In0.53Ga0.47As/InP versus GaAs/Al0.35Ga0.65As

The electron transfer from a narrow to a wide quantum well through a thin barrier is studied in the non-resonant case by time-resolved photoluminescence. The two systems In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP and GaAs/Al_0.35Ga_0.65As are compared. Space charge effects are investigated and discussed. Contributions of holes to the tunneling process are determined.     

A resistive-gate In0.53Ga0.47As/InPheterostructure CCD

The first InGaAs/InP charge-coupled device (CCD) is demonstrated, exhibiting a charge transfer efficiency (CTE) of 0.98 at 13 MHz and 1 GHz. Cooling the device improves the CTE to greater than 0.99 at 13-MHz clock frequency. The 0.76-eV In_0.53Ga_0.47As bandgap makes this structure applicable to direct-detection short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) imagers     

In0.53Ga0.47As junction field-effecttransistors as tunable feedback resistors for integrated receiverpreamplifiers

In_0.53Ga_0.47As active feedback junction field-effect transistors (JFETs) for use in integrated transimpedance photoreceivers are discussed. By varying the gate-to-source voltage V_GS, the resistance can be continuously tuned between 3 and 40 kΩ with a drain-to-source capacitance of <10 fF. The temperature coefficient of resistance is between -5 and -20 Ω/°C (for V_GS less than the pinch-off voltage). The combination of large resistance and low capacitance can result in high receiver sensitivity without sacrificing amplifier dynamic range. The feedback FET was fabricated adjacent to 1.8-μm-gate-length JFETs with transconductances of 110 mS/mm, gate-to-source capacitances of 1.3 pF/mm, and DC amplifier voltage gains of 100. The compatibility of these transistor structures indicates that an integrated preamplifier with dynamically tunable bandwidth can be realized     

Many body effects in the luminescence of In0.53Ga0.47As/InP quantum wires

We have investigated many body effects in the one-dimensional neutral electron-hole plasma of In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP quantum wires. By using high laser excitation the active section of the wires was filled up to the InP barrier. The luminescence band shows up to four features which can be assigned to lateral subband transitions in the quantum wires. With increasing excitation intensities we observe a red shift of the emission due to the interparticle interaction among the carriers. By using theoretical line shape calculations the temperature and the density for the electron-hole plasma and the band gap renormalization were determined. The decreasing band gap renormalization with increasing subband index was traced to the density dependence of the exchange energy.     

Demonstration of aluminum-free metamorphic InP/In0.53Ga0.47As/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors on GaAssubstrates

We report, for the first time, the successful fabrication of aluminum-free metamorphic (MM) InP/In_0.53 Ga_0.47 As/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs) on GaAs substrates with a linearly graded In_xGa_1-xP buffer grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy (SSMBE). Devices with 5×5 μm² emitters display a peak current gain of 40 and a common-emitter breakdown voltage (BV_CE0) higher than 9 V, a current gain cut-off frequency (f_T) of 48 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency (f_max) of 42 GHz. A minimum noise figure of 2.9 dB and associated gain of 19.5 dB were measured at a collector current level of 2.6 mA at 2 GHz. Detailed analysis suggests that the degradation of the base-emitter heterojunction interface and the increase of bulk recombination are the most probable causes for the poorer device performance of current metamorphic HBTs compared with lattice-matched HBTs     

Performance of interface engineeredSiNx/ICL/InP/In0.53Ga0.47As/InP dopedchannel HIGFET's

SiN_x/InP/InGaAs doped channel passivated heterojunction insulated gate field effect transistors (HIGFETs) have been fabricated for the first time using an improved In-S interface control layer (ICL). The insulated gate HIGFETs exhibit very low gate leakage (10 nA@V_GS =±5 V) and I_DS (sat) of 250 mA/mm. The doped channel improves the DC characteristics and the HIGFETs show transconductance of 140-150 mS/mm (L_g=2 μm), f_t of 5-6 GHz (L_g=3 μm), and power gain of 14.2 dB at 3 GHz. The ICL HIGFET technology is promising for high frequency applications     

Characterization of surface-undoped In0.52Al0.48As/In0.53Ga0.47As/InP high electron mobilitytransistors

High-performance 0.3-μm-gate-length surface-undoped In_0.52 Al_0.48As/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have been characterized and compared with a surface-doped structure. At 18 GHz, the surface-undoped HEMT has achieved a maximum stable gain (MSG) of 19.2 dB compared to 16.0 dB for the surface-doped structure. The higher MSG value of the surface-undoped HEMTs is obtained due to the improved g_m/g₀ ratio associated with the surface-induced electric field spreading effect. Comparison of identical 0.3-×150-μm-gate devices fabricated on surface-undoped and -doped structures has shown greatly improved gate leakage characteristics and much lower output conductance for the surface-undoped structure. It is demonstrated that the surface potential, modulated by different surface layer designs, affects the charge control in the conducting channel, especially the carrier injection into the buffer, resulting in excess output conductance. Several millimeter-wave coplanar waveguide (CPW) monolithic distributed amplifiers have been successfully fabricated by using the surface-undoped HEMT structure. A high gain per stage distributed amplifier with 170-dB±1-dB small-signal gain across a frequency band of 24-40 GHz, a W-band monolithic integrated circuit with 6.4-dB gain at 94 GHz, and a broad bandwidth distributed amplifier with 5-dB gain across a frequency band of 5 to 100 GHz have been demonstrated by using the surface-undoped structures