GaAs MESFET's fabricated on InP substrates

This paper reports the first successful MESFET fabrication in GaAs layers grown directly on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The fabricated GaAs MESFET's exhibit good I-V curves with complete pinch-off and saturation characteristics. About 100-mS/ mm transconductance was obtained for a 1.2-µm gate length device.     

Threshold voltage scattering of GaAs MESFET's fabricated on LEC-grown semi-insulating substrates

Threshold voltage standard deviation (sigma V_{th}) for MESFET's on a liquid encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) grown GaAs wafer was investigated, in connection with dislocation distribution. Threshold voltage (Vth) scattering was found to be strongly correlated to the dislocation cell network structure in the substrate. This dislocation cell network is characteristic of the LEC-grown crystal. At largesigma V_{th}region, strongly networked dislocation cell structure was observed. In the area where dislocations distributed randomly without network structure,sigma V_{th}was small in spite of high dislocation density. For FET's located in the dislocation-free region inside the network cell, low drain current Idsand high Vthwere recognized directly by a curve tracer. The experimental results regarding the dislocation network effect on Vthscattering are discussed along with cathodoluminescence study results.     

Ion-implantation and activation behavior of Si in MBE-Grown GaAs on Si substrates for GaAs MESFET's

The suitability of MBE-grown GaAs layers on Si substrates has been studied for ion-implanted GaAs MESFET technology. The undoped as-grown GaAs layers had a carrier concentration below 10¹⁴cm^-3. Uniform Si ion implants into 4-µm-thick GaAs layers on Si were annealed at 900°C for 10 s, using a rapid-thermal-annealing (RTA) system. Both the activation and the doping profile were similar to those obtained in bulk semi-insulating GaAs under similar conditions. The SIMS profiles of Si and As atoms near the GaAs/Si heterointerface were identical before and after the RTA process, indicating negigible interdiffusion during the implant activation. Dual implants of a shallow n+ layer and an n-channel layer were used to fabricate GaAs MESFET's with a recess-gate technology. Selective oxygen ion implantation was used for device isolation. The maximum transconductance obtained was 135 mS/ mm compared to typical values of 150-180 mS/mm obtained in our laboratory on GaAs substrates in similar device structures.     

A dc and microwave comparison of GaAs MESFET's on GaAs and Si substrates

In order to assess GaAs on Si technology, we have made a performance comparison of GaAs MESFET's grown and fabricated on Si and GaAs substrates under identical conditions and report the first microwave results. The GaAs MESFET's on Si with 1.2-µm gate length (290-µm width) exhibited transconductances (gm) of 180 mS/mm with good saturation and pinchoff whereas their counterparts on GaAs substrates exhibited gmof 170 mS/mm. A current gain cut-off frequency of 13.5 GHz was obtained, which compares with 12.9 GHz observed in similar-geometry GaAs MESFET's on GaAs substrates. The other circuit parameters determined from S-parameter measurements up to 18 GHz showed that whether the substrate is Si or GaAs does not seem to make a difference. Additionally, the microwave performance of these devices was about the same as that obtained in devices with identical geometry fabricated at Tektronix on GaAs substrates. The side-gating effect has also been measured in both types of devices with less than 10-percent decrease in drain current when 5 V is applied to a pad situated 5 µm away from the source. The magnitude of the sidegating effect was identical to within experimental determination for all side-gate biases in the studied range of 0 to -5 V. The light sensitivity of this effect was also very small with a change in drain current of less that 1 percent between dark and light conditions for a side gate bias of -5 V and a spacing of 5 µm. Carrier saturation velocity depth profiles showed that for both MESFET's on GaAs and Si substrates, the velocity was constant at 1.5 × 10⁷cm/s to within 100-150 Å of the active layer-buffer layer interface.     

Performance of GaAs MESFET's on InP substrates

The fabrication of GaAs MESFET's with 0.9-μm gate length on InP substrates, after growth of the heteroepitaxial material by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is described. The MESFETs exhibit extrinsic transconductances of 377 mS-mm^-1, the highest value yet reported for GaAs-on-InP devices. The drain I-V characteristic shows excellent saturation, a knee voltage of 0.75 V, and no light sensitivity. A unity current-gain cutoff frequency of 22 GHz and a maximum frequency of oscillation of 30 GHz are obtained for these MESFETs     

Effects of a buried p-layer on alpha-particle immunity of MESFET's fabricated on semi-insulating GaAs substrates

Measurements of alpha-particle-induced charge are carried out for the first time on both conventional MESFET's fabricated directly on semi-insulating GaAs substrates and MESFET's with a buried p-layer. The maximum collected charge is found to be 65 fC in the MESFET's with a buried p-layer, one order smaller than in conventional MESFET's.     

Microwave MESFET's fabricated in GaAs layers grown on SOS Substrates

Device-quality GaAs layers have been grown on silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Microwave MESFET's (gate length of ~0.8 µm) with transconductance of 140 mS/ mm,f_{max} = 20GHz, andf_{T} = 8.3GHz have been fabricated in these layers.     

Experimental microwave-signal-propagation study on GaAs MESFET's using especially fabricated transistor structures

Wave-propagation along the electrodes of an FET is reported to be experimentally investigated. A GaAs MESFET with large "gate width" and connecting pads at both ends of the gate and drain electrodes was fabricated. Using S-parameter measurement wave impedances, attenuation- and phase constants were obtained. Based on these measured S-parameters, the loads required at the normally open ends of the gate and the drain lines were calculated in order to achieve a maximally available gain (MAG) for the normal two-port transistor. These calculations are in very good agreement with the experimental results obtained by producing the required free-end loading terminations by tunable loads. It is thus also shown that a significant improvement of the MAG is possible.     

Monolithic integration of Si MOSFET's and GaAs MESFET's

Integration of Si MOSFET's and GaAs MESFET's on a monolithic GaAs/Si (MGS) substrate has been demonstrated. The GaAs MESFET's have transconductance of 150 mS/mm for a gate length of 1 µm, and the Si MOSFET's have transconductance of 19 mS/mm for a gate length of 5 µm and an oxide thickness of 800 Å. These characteristics are comparable to those for devices fabricated on separate GaAs and Si substrates.     

A comparative analysis of GaAs and Si ion-implanted MESFET's

In this work, numerical calculations of device characteristics including theI-Vcharacteristic, small-signal parameters, and cutoff frequency are reported for silicon-implanted MESFET devices. The device dimensions and impurity profile are similar to those of GaAs MESFET's. Although Si MESFET devices have not found practical applications, these calculations provide a good comparison of the intrinsic frequency limits of GaAs and Si. Comparative analysis shows that there are differences in the magnitude of the small-signal parameters and channel current between GaAs and Si MESFET devices with the same geometries and implanted profiles. However, the general variations of small-signal parameters with respect to the drain voltage is similar for both materials. In addition, the calculations show that a 1-µm channel length GaAs MESFET device has a higher cut-off frequency by a factor of 1.8 than a similar Si MESFET. These results indicate that GaAs devices are intrinsically better suited for very high-speed switching devices.     

GaAs/AlGaAs grating surface-emitting diode lasers on Si substrates

A monolithic grating surface-emitting, GaAs/AlGaAs, separate-confinement-heterostructure, single-quantum-well diode laser has been fabricated on a Si substrate using a single-step metalorganic chemical vapour deposition process. An output power of 30 mW has been obtained under pulsed operation with a peak emission wavelength of 885 nm.<>     

GaAs dual-gate MESFET's

Performance of GaAs dual-gate MESFET, including high-frequency noise behavior, was analyzed on the basis of Statz's model. Under the design considerations developed from the analysis, fabrication and characterization of a prototype device were carried out. The present analysis was confirmed to reproduce satisfactorily the performance observed. Minimum noise figure and associated gain observed in the device with two 1-µm gates were; 1.2 dB and 16.7 dB at 4 GHz, 2.2 dB and 16.3 dB at 8 GHz, and 3.2 dB and 12.6 dB at 12 GHz, respectively. More than 35-dB gain controllability was also obtained at 8 GHz.     

Electroabsorption waveguide modulators at 1.3 /spl mu/m fabricated on GaAs substrates

An InGaAs-InAlAs multiple-quantum-well (MQW) electroabsorption (EA) waveguide modulator fabricated on a GaAs substrate has been designed and characterized at 1.3-/spl mu/m wavelength for microwave signal transmission on an analog fibre-optic link. The modulator structure with a lattice constant 2.5% larger than that of GaAs is grown upon a 0.7-/spl mu/m-thick three-stage compositionally step-graded In/sub z/Al/sub 1-z/As relaxed buffer. The waveguide modulator exhibits a high-electrooptic slope efficiency of 0.56 V/sup -1/, a 3-dB electrical bandwidth of 20 GHz, and a large optical saturation intensity in excess of 17 mW. These high-speed optoelectronic modulators could potentially be integrated with on-chip GaAs electronic driver circuits.     

SOI/CMOS circuits fabricated in zone-melting-recrystallized Si films on SiO2-coated Si substrates

A CMOS test circuit chip containing six arrays of 360 to 533 parallel transistors, two 31-stage ring oscillators, and two inverter chains has been designed for evaluating SOI wafers prepared by using the graphite strip-heater technique for zone-melting recrystallization of poly-Si films on SiO2-coated Si substrates. One 2-in-diameter wafer has been evaluated in detail by testing all the circuits on each of 98 chips fabricated in the recrystallized film. These measurements reveal a good yield of functional circuits, and most of the failures can be explained by obvious metallization defects. The operating characteristics of each type of circuit are quite uniform from chip to chip. For the ring oscillators, which have a 5 µm gate length and fan in and out of one, at a supply voltage of 5 V the switching delay time is about 2 n s per stage and the power-delay product is 0.2-0.3 pJ per stage.     

GaAs Shallow-homojunction solar cells on Ge-coated Si substrates

Solar cells with conversion efficiencies of 12% (AM1) have been fabricated from single-crystal GaAs epilayers grown by CVD on Ge-coated Si substrates. The cells utilize an n⁺/p/p⁺shallow-homo junction GaAs structure on a thin (<0.2 µm) epitaxial Ge layer. These solar cells are the first reported GaAs devices fabricated on Si substrates.     

Backgating in GaAs MESFET's

The phenomenon of backgating in GaAs depletion mode MESFET devices is investigated. The origin of this effect is electron trapping on the Cr²⁺and EL(2) levels at the semi-insulating substrate-channel region interface. A model describing backgating, based on DLTS and spectral measurements, is presented. Calculations based on this model predict that closely compensated substrate material will minimize backgating. Preliminary experimental data support this prediction.     

Epitaxial necking in GaAs grown on pre-pattemed Si substrates

We report a new method for the natural reduction of threading dislocations in GaAs on Si by growing on patterned Si substrates. We also explore other effects of patterning on dislocation formation during growth: stress relief near the mesa edges at high aspect ratios, and limited dislocation nucleation and propagation. Prior to growth, the Si substrates were processed to produce a plurality of mesas varying in width (5-170 μm) and geometry (circular, rectangular, and square mesas). After growth of the GaAs, the material was characterized with cathodoluminescence (CL) and secondary electron microscopy. For a GaAs growth temperature of 570° C and a thickness of 10 μm, the GaAs grown on the 40μ-wide Si mesas show a factor of 1.6 increase in luminescence intensity over the luminescence intensity from the unpatterned control area. Also, the emission wavelength from the smaller mesas is shifted to shorter wavelengths as compared to GaAs/GaAs and the unpatterned control area. The emission wavelength and CL intensity varies across the mesas; for 40 μm wide mesas, the emission wavelength is fairly constant across the mesa and the CL intensity decreases near the edges, whereas for larger mesas the emission wavelength decreases and the CL intensity increases at the mesa edges. For the 40 μm wide mesas, the integrated CL intensity is equal to that of a control GaAs/GaAs grown with the same doping level. No cracks were observed in the GaAs grown on the Si mesas, even though the thickness of the GaAs was 10 μ,m.     

High-performance AlGaAs/GaAs SDHTs and ring oscillators grown byMBE on Si substrates

High-performance AlGaAs/GaAs selectively doped heterojunction transistors (SDHTs) and 19-stage oscillators fabricated on silicon substrates are discussed. Epitaxial layers of AlGaAs/GaAs were grown by MBE on Si substrates. The mobility of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the SDHTs was as high as 53000 cm²/V-s at 77 K for a sheet charge density of 10×1¹² cm^-2. For 1-μm-gate-length devices, maximum transconductances of 220 and 364 mS/mm were measured at 300 and 77 K, respectively, for the SDHTs. A minimum propagation delay time of 27 ps/stage at room temperature was obtained for a 19-stage direct-coupled FET logic ring oscillator with a power dissipation of 1.1 mW/stage. The propagation delay time was reduced to 17.6 ps/stage at 77 K. From microwave S-parameter measurements at 300 K, current gain and power gain cutoff frequencies of 15 and 22 GHz, respectively, were measured. These results are comparable to those obtained for SDHT technology on GaAs substrates