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     

Tunneling through ultrathin GaAs n++-p++-n++ barrier grown by molecular layer epitaxy

The I-V characteristics of ultrathin GaAs n⁺⁺-p⁺⁺ -n⁺⁺ barrier structures with a 45 Å thick p⁺⁺ layer grown by molecular layer epitaxy (MLE) have been measured at room temperature and 77 K. The tunneling probability for this structure has been calculated as a function of effective tunneling width. It was found that good agreement between experiment and calculation is obtained when the effective tunneling width is assumed to be 75 Å, which is much smaller than the depletion width about 190 Å measured by C-V method. This fact indicates that the depletion width approximation cannot be used to measure the exact tunneling width for ultrathin barrier devices     

Quantum-well Hall devices in Si-delta-dopedAl0.25Ga0.75As/GaAs and pseudomorphic Al0.25Ga0.75As/In0.25Ga0.75As/GaAsheterostructures grown by LP-MOCVD: performance comparisons

Characterized herein are quantum-well Hall devices in Si-delta-doped Al_0.25Ga_0.75As/GaAs and pseudomorphic Al_0.25Ga_0.75As/In_0.25Ga _0.75As/GaAs heterostructures, grown by low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition method. The Si-delta-doping technique has been applied to quantum-well Hall devices for the first time. As a result high electron mobilities of 8100 cm^-2/V·s with a sheet electron density of 1.5×10¹² cm^-2 in Al_0.25Ga_0.75As/In_0.25Ga_0.75 As/GaAs structure and of 6000 cm^-2/V·s with the sheet electron density of 1.2×10¹² cm^-2 in Al_0.25Ga_0.75As/GaAs structure have been achieved at room temperature, respectively. From Hall devices in Al_0.25Ga_0.75As/In_0.25Ga_0.75 As structure, the product sensitivity of 420 V/AT with temperature coefficient of -0.015 %/K has been obtained. This temperature characteristic is one of the best result reported. Additionally, a high signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to the minimum detectable magnetic field of 45 nT at 1 kHz and 75 nT at 100 Hz has been attained. These resolutions are among the best reported results     

Epitaxial growth and characterization of DyP/GaAs, DyAs/GaAs, and GaAs/DyP/GaAs heterostructures

There is a significant interest in the area of improving high temperature stable contacts to III-V semiconductors. Two attractive material systems that offer promise in this area are dysprosium phosphide/gallium arsenide (DyP/GaAs) and dysprosium arsenide/gallium arsenide (DyAs/GaAs). Details of epitaxial growth of DyP/GaAs and DyAs/GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and their characterization by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, Hall measurements, and high temperature current-voltage measurements is reported. DyP is lattice matched to GaAs, with a room temperature mismatch of less than 0.01% and is stable in air with no sign of oxidation, even after months of ambient exposure. Both DyP and DyAs have been grown by solid source MBE using custom designed group V thermal cracker cells and group III high temperature effusion cells. High quality DyP and DyAs epilayer were consistently obtained for growth temperatures ranging from 500 to 600°C with growth rates between 0.5 and 0.7 μm/h. DyP epilayers are n-type with electron concentrations of 3 × 10²⁰ to 4 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³, room temperature mobilities of 250 to 300 cm²/V·s, and a barrier height of 0.81 eV to GaAs. DyAs epilayers are also n-type with carrier concentrations of 1 × 10²¹ to 2 × 10²¹ cm⁻³, and mobilities between 25 and 40 cm²/V·s.     

Ballistic and tunneling GaAs static induction transistors:nano-devices for THz electronics

GaAs static induction transistors (SIT) with 10-nm scale channel and with a 100-nm channel were fabricated with molecular layer epitaxy (MLE). Area-selective epitaxy of GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs was used for the gate. Temperature dependence of current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the 100-nm SIT indicates ballistic injection of electrons. In the 10-nm scale SIT, electrons are transported ballistically in the drain-side electric field. Direct tunneling is responsible for the transport through the potential barrier. It is indicated by the temperature dependence and by the electroluminescence spectrum. Electron transport in the 10-nm scale SIT is nearly scattering-free. The plausible estimation of the electron transit time is 2·10^-14 s; the worst case estimation based on saturated drift velocity gives 1·10^-13 s. It makes the ISITs suitable for THz applications. Multiple area-selective MLE GaAs regrowth was used as a tool for automatic definition of the channel length     

电子倍增型GaAs光阴极实验研究

电子倍增型GaAs光阴极是利用雪崩倍增效应的一种新型光阴极组件,通过在常规GaAs光阴极中引入雪崩电子倍增层制备了GaAs光阴极/电子倍增器一体化组件,研究了该组件的热清洗温度、电子增益等性能.对组件热清洗工艺前后的I-V特性进行了对比测试,结果表明,该组件可以承受580℃的热清洗温度,并获得了12.6倍的电子增益;880nm处的探测灵敏度≥3.87mA/w;暗电流密度≤6.79×10^-5mA/cm².     

3D defect distribution induced by focused ion beam irradiation at variable temperatures in a GaAs/GaAlAs multi quantum well structure

In this study, we propose a new characterisation method of the damage distribution using a GaAs/GaAlAs multi quantum well structure (MQW). Three quantum wells are used as high sensibility sensors, in relation to the damage created during the FIB irradiation through photoluminescence (P.L.) intensity measurements.

We have compared the effect of a Ga⁺ focused ion beam irradiation on the MQW structure, which was kept either at room temperature, or near the liquid nitrogen temperature (80 K) during the bombardment. The surface ion dose was kept constant at 10¹⁵ ions/cm². No subsequent annealing was performed. Irradiated samples were characterised using low temperature (1.7 K) and spatially resolved photoluminescence experiments.     

Fabrication of high-performance AlxGa1-xAs/InyGa1-yAs/GaAs resonant tunneling diodes using amicrowave-compatible technology

A microwave-compatible process for fabricating planar integrated resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) is described. High-performance RTDs have been fabricated using Al_xGa_1-xAs/In_y Ga_1-yAs/GaAs strained layers. Peak-to-valley current ratios (PVRs) of 4.8:1 with simultaneous peak current densities of 4×10⁴ A/cm² have been achieved at room temperature for diodes of area 9 μm². Accurate measurements of reflection gain versus frequency between 1.5 and 26.5 GHz in the negative differential region indicate that the present technology is promising for millimeter-wave integrated circuits including self-oscillating mixers, frequency multipliers, and detectors     

High-performance, 0.1 μm InAlAs/InGaAs high electron mobilitytransistors on GaAs

This letter describes the material characterization and device test of InAlAs/InGaAs high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on GaAs substrates with indium compositions and performance comparable to InP-based devices. This technology demonstrates the potential for lowered production cost of very high performance devices. The transistors were fabricated from material with room temperature channel electron mobilities and carrier concentrations of μ=10000 cm² /Vs, n=3.2×10¹² cm^-2 (In=53%) and μ=11800 cm²/Vs, n=2.8×10¹² cm^-2 (In=60%). A series of In=53%, 0.1×100 μm² and 0.1×50 μm² devices demonstrated extrinsic transconductance values greater than 1 S/mm with the best device reaching 1.074 S/mm. High-frequency testing of 0.1×50 μm² discrete HEMT's up to 40 GHz and fitting of a small signal equivalent circuit yielded an intrinsic transconductance (g_m,i) of 1.67 S/mm, with unity current gain frequency (f_T) of 150 GHz and a maximum frequency of oscillation (f_max) of 330 GHz. Transistors with In=60% exhibited an extrinsic g_m of 1.7 S/mm, which is the highest reported value for a GaAs based device     

Sulfide treated GaAs MISFET's with gate insulator of photo-CVDgrown P3N5 film

Sulfide passivated GaAs MISFET's with the gate insulator of photo-CVD grown P₃N₅ films have been successfully fabricated. The device shows the drain current instability less than 22% for the period of 1.0 s ~1.0×10⁴ s, due to excellent properties of sulfide treated P₃N₅/GaAs interface. The effective electron mobility and extrinsic transconductance of the device are about 1300 cm²/V·sec and 1.33 mS, respectively, at room temperature. To estimate the effects of sulfide treatment on P₃N₅/GaAs interfacial properties, GaAs-MIS diodes are also fabricated     

High-current-gain small-offset-voltage In0.49Ga0.51P/GaAs tunneling emitter bipolar transistors grown by gas sourcemolecular beam epitaxy

Different emitter size, self-aligned In_0.49Ga_0.51 P/GaAs tunneling emitter bipolar transistors (TEBTs) grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) with 100-Å barrier thickness and 1000-Å p⁺(1×10¹⁹ cm^-3) base have been fabricated and measured at room temperature. A small-signal current gain of 236 and a small common-emitter offset voltage of 40 mV were achieved without any grading. It is found that the emitter size effect on current gain was reduced by the use of a tunnel barrier. The current gain and the offset voltage obtained were the highest and lowest reported values to date, respectively, in InGaP/GaAs system heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) or TEBTs with similar base dopings and thicknesses     

Ridge waveguide AlGaAs/GaAs distributed feedback lasers

Ridge waveguide AlGaAs/GaAs distributed feedback lasers were fabricated by a two-step molecular beam epitaxy. A threshold current as low as 37 mA, which is the lowest ever reported, was obtained under a continuous wave condition at room temperature. The low threshold current is due to the larger coupling coefficient (91 cm^-1) and a good current and optical confinement. The effects of the facet coatings were investigated and a high-power and a high-temperature operation was obtained. The polarization and the dynamic behavior were also investigated.     

Annealing behavior of a proton irradiated AlxGa1-xN/GaN high electron mobility transistor grown by MBE

The influence of proton irradiation (1.8 MeV, 1×10¹⁴ cm^-2) on the properties of an Al_xGa_1-x N/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is studied from current-voltage (I-V) and Raman scattering measurements as a function of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) temperature after irradiation. The I-V curves show that the saturation current (I_ds) and the transconductance (g_m) of the HEMT were seriously reduced by the irradiation. However, the dc characteristics of the HEMT could be mostly recovered by RTA at over 800°C     

Laser annealed Ta/Ge and Ni/Ge ohmic contacts to GaAs

Refractory metal ohmic contacts to n-type GaAs have been developed using epitaxial Ge films and pulsed laser annealing. Laser annealing was carried out with a 22 ns pulse from a Q-switched ruby laser operating in the TEM00mode. The specific contact resistivity of the contacts Ta/Ge and Ni/Ge on 2 × 10¹⁷cm^-3dopes GaAs exhibited sharp minima as a function of laser energy density at 1 × 10^-6Ω-cm²and 2 × 10^-6Ω-cm², respectively, which occurred near the melting point of the layered contacts. Auger electron sputter profiles revealed Ge migration into the GaAs surface after laser annealing at sufficient energy density to form ohmic contact. The contacts have applications to high temperature devices and to devices which experience high channel or contact temperatures, such as power FETs and TEDs.     

Trap studies in GaInP/GaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT's by means oflow-frequency noise and transconductance dispersion characterizations

The presence of traps in GaInP/GaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT's was investigated by means of low frequency noise and frequency dispersion measurements. Low frequency noise measurements showed two deep traps (E _a1=0.58 eV, E_a2=0.27 eV) in AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT's. One of them (E_a2) is responsible for the channel current collapse at low temperature. A deep trap (E_a1'=0.52 eV) was observed in GaInP/GaAs HEMT's only at a much higher temperature (~350 K). These devices showed a transconductance dispersion of ~16% at 300 K which reduced to only ~2% at 200 K. The dispersion characteristics of AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT's were very similar at 300 K (~12%) but degraded at 200 K (~20%). The low frequency noise and the transconductance dispersion are enhanced at certain temperatures corresponding to trap level crossing by the Fermi-level. The transition frequency of 1/f noise is estimated at 180 MHz for GaInP/GaAs HEMT's and resembles that of AlGaAs/GaAs devices     

High-quality two-dimensional electron gas inAlxGa1-xAs/GaAs heterostructures by LP-OMVPE

A combination of high mobility and high sheet carrier density in Al_xGa_1-xAs/GaAs two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) elements was obtained by low-pressure organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE). The sheet charge densities (n_s) and mobilities (μ) at 77 K are 1.2×10¹²/cm² and 90000 cm²/V-s for single-channel, and 2.0× 10¹²/cm² and 64500 cm²/V-s for double-channel elements, respectively. Strong correlations between the photoluminescence spectrum of the Al_xGa_1-xAs layers and the 2DEG mobility were found. The 2DEG elements were used as mixers and detectors at millimeter wavelengths. Mixing at 94 GHz with a 1.7-GHz IF bandwidth and detection of signals as high as 238 GHz under a magnetic field were achieved with these devices     

Characterization of double pulse-doped channel GaAs MESFETs

The fabrication and characterization of a double pulse-doped (DPD) GaAs MESFET grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) are reported. The electron mobility of a DPD structure with a carrier concentration of 3×10¹⁸/cm³ was 2000 cm²/V-s, which is about 20% higher than that of a pulse-doped (PD) structure. Implementing the DPD structure instead of the conventional PD structure as a GaAs MESFET channel, the drain breakdown voltage, current gain cutoff frequency, and maximum stable gain (MSG) increase. The maximum transconductance of 265 mS/mm at a drain current density of 600 mA/mm, a current gain cutoff frequency of 40 GHz, and an MSG of 11 dB at 18 GHz were obtained for a 0.3 μm n⁺ self-aligned DPD GaAs MESFET     

A GSMBE grown GaInP/GaAs narrow base DHBT exhibiting N-shapenegative differential resistance with variable peak-to-valley currentratio up to 1×107 at room temperature

A Ga_0.51In_0.49P/GaAs DHBT with a heavily doped (1×10¹⁹ cm^-3) narrow base (8 nm) grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy and fabricated by simple wet chemical etching was demonstrated for the first time. A variable “N” shape negative differential resistance (NDR) controlled by base current was observed in the common-emitter current-voltage characteristics of this device at room temperature. A maximum peak-to-valley current ratio of 1×10⁷ and a maximum current gain of 83 were achieved at room temperature. The largest peak-to-valley current ratio (1×10⁷) achieved is, to our knowledge, the highest reported value to date. The NDR characteristics were explained by the base resistance effect     

An electrical method to characterize thermal reactions of Pd/GaAs and Ni/GaAs contacts

Capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) measurements were used to study the thermal reaction of Pd/GaAs contacts and Ni/GaAs contacts. The thickness of GaAs consumed by the metal/GaAs reaction during annealing was calculated from C-V analyses and I-V analyses. For annealing temperatures below 350°C, the Schottky characteristics of the diodes were good but the electrical junction moves into the GaAs after annealing. The amount of junction movement was calculated directly from our measurements. The diffusion coefficients of Pd and Ni in GaAs at 300°C were estimated both to be around 1.2 × 10¹⁴ cm₂/s.     

Current—voltage characteristics of an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure FET for high gate voltages

Drain-to-source current for high gate voltages in AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure FET's (HFET's) is found to depend on the electron saturation velocity in the AlGaAs layer. A simple model, which takes into account the current through the undepleted channel in the AlGaAs layer as a function of the electron saturation velocity in AlGaAs, is proposed for describing I-V characteristics of HFET's for high gate voltages. Using the model, effective electron saturation velocity in AlxGa1-xAs for different Al content levels has been obtained from the analysis of the present experimental results; 7 × 10⁶cm/s for x = 0.24 and 3 × 10⁶cm/s for x = 0.3 at a 4 × 10¹⁷cm^-3doping concentration.