Microwave performance of GaAs MOSFET with wet thermally oxidized InAlP gate dielectric

This paper reports the first demonstration of a microwave-frequency operation of a GaAs MOSFET fabricated using a wet thermal oxidization of InAlP lattice-matched to GaAs to form a native-oxide gate insulator. Devices with 1-/spl mu/m gate lengths exhibit a cutoff frequency (f/sub t/) of 13.7 GHz and a maximum frequency of oscillation (f/sub max/) of 37.6 GHz, as well as a peak extrinsic transconductance of 73.6 mS/mm. A low-leakage current density of 3.8/spl times/10/sup -3/ A/cm/sup 2/ at 1-V bias for an MOS capacitor demonstrates the good insulating properties of the /spl sim/ 11-nm thick native gate oxide.     

High-performance double-recessed enhancement-mode metamorphic HEMTs on 4-in GaAs substrates

Enhancement-mode InAlAs/InGaAs/GaAs metamorphic HEMTs with a composite InGaAs channel and double-recessed 0.15-/spl mu/m gate length are presented. Epilayers with a room-temperature mobility of 10 000 cm/sup 2//V-s and a sheet charge of 3.5/spl times/10/sup 12/cm/sup -2/ are grown using molecular beam epitaxy on 4-in GaAs substrates. Fully selective double-recess and buried Pt-gate processes are employed to realize uniform and true enhancement-mode operation. Excellent dc and RF characteristics are achieved with threshold voltage, maximum drain current, extrinsic transconductance, and cutoff frequency of 0.3 V, 500 mA/mm, 850 mS/mm, and 128 GHz, respectively, as measured on 100-/spl mu/m gate width devices. The load pull measurements of 300-/spl mu/m gate width devices at 35 GHz yielded a 1-dB compression point output power density of 580 mW/mm, gain of 7.2 dB, and a power-added efficiency of 44% at 5 V of drain bias.     

A novel InGaP/InGaAs/GaAs double /spl delta/-doped pHEMT with camel-like gate structure

The author reports a novel InGaP/InGaAs/GaAs double delta-doped pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) with n/sup +/-GaAs/p/sup +/-InGaP/n-InGaP camel-like gate structure grown by MOCVD. Due to the p-n depletion from the p/sup +/-InGaP gate to the channel region and the presence of /spl Delta/Ec at the InGaP/InGaAs heterostructure, the turn-on voltage of gate is larger than 1.7 V. For a 1/spl times/100-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ device, the experimental results show an extrinsic transconductance of 107 mS/mm and a saturation current density of 850 mA/mm. Significantly, an extremely broad gate voltage swing larger than 6 V with above 80% maximum g/sub m/ is obtained. Furthermore, the unit current cut-off frequency f/sub T/ and maximum oscillation frequency are up to 20 and 32 GHz, respectively. The excellent device performance provides a promise for linear and large signal amplifiers and high-frequency circuit applications.     

Influences of sulfur passivation on temperature-dependent characteristics of an AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs PHEMT

The influences of (NH/sub 4/)/sub 2/S/sub x/ treatment on an AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (PHEMT) are studied and demonstrated. Upon the sulfur passivation, the studied device exhibits better temperature-dependent dc and microwave characteristics. Experimentally, for a 1/spl times/100 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ gate/dimension PHEMT with sulfur passivation, the higher gate/drain breakdown voltage of 36.4 (21.5) V, higher turn-on voltage of 0.994 (0.69) V, lower gate leakage current of 0.6 (571) /spl mu/A/mm at V/sub GD/=-22 V, improved threshold voltage of -1.62 (-1.71) V, higher maximum transconductance of 240 (211) mS/mm with 348 (242) mA/mm broad operating regime (>0.9g/sub m,max/), and lower output conductance of 0.51 (0.53) mS/mm are obtained, respectively, at 300 (510) K. The corresponding unity current gain cutoff frequency f/sub T/ (maximum oscillation frequency f/sub max/) are 22.2 (87.9) and 19.5 (59.3) GHz at 250 and 400 K, respectively, with considerably broad operating regimes (>0.8f/sub T/,f/sub max/) larger than 455 mA/mm. Moreover, the relatively lower variations of device performances over wide temperature range (300/spl sim/510 K) are observed.     

GaAs MOSFET with oxide gate dielectric grown by atomic layer deposition

For the first time, a III-V compound semiconductor MOSFET with the gate dielectric grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is demonstrated. The novel application of the ALD process on III-V compound semiconductors affords tremendous functionality and opportunity by enabling the formation of high-quality gate oxides and passivation layers on III-V compound semiconductor devices. A 0.65-/spl mu/m gate-length depletion-mode n-channel GaAs MOSFET with an Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ gate oxide thickness of 160 /spl Aring/ shows a gate leakage current density less than 10/sup -4/ A/cm/sup 2/ and a maximum transconductance of 130 mS/mm, with negligible drain current drift and hysteresis. A short-circuit current-gain cut-off frequency f/sub T/ of 14.0 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency f/sub max/ of 25.2 GHz have been achieved from a 0.65-/spl mu/m gate-length device.     

A novel GaAs FET with double camel-like gate structure

Extremely high potential barrier height and gate turn-on voltage of a novel GaAs field-effect transistor with n/sup +//p/sup +//n/sup +//p/sup +//n double camel-like gate structure are demonstrated. The maximum electric field and potential barrier height of the double camel-like gate are substantially enhanced by the addition of another n/sup +//p/sup +/ layers in gate region, as compared with the conventional n/sup +//p/sup +//n single camel-like gate. For a 1/spl times/100 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ device, a potential barrier height up to 2.741 V is obtained. Experimentally, a high gate turn-on voltage up to +4.9 V is achieved because two reverse-biased junctions of the double camel-like gate absorb part of positive gate voltage. In addition, the transistor action shows a maximum saturation current of 730 mA/mm and an extrinsic transconductance of 166 mS/mm.     

Fabrication and Performance of 0.25-$mu$m Gate Length Depletion-Mode GaAs-Channel MOSFETs With Self-Aligned InAlP Native Oxide Gate Dielectric

The fabrication and performance of 0.25- mum gate length GaAs-channel MOSFETs using the wet thermal native oxide of InAlP as the gate dielectric are reported. A fabrication process that self-aligns the gate oxidation to the gate recess and metallization to reduce the source access resistance is demonstrated for the first time. The fabricated devices exhibit a peak extrinsic transconductance of 144 mS/mm, an on-resistance of 3.46 Omega-mm, and a threshold voltage of -1.8 V for typical 0.25 -mum gate devices. A record cutoff frequency of 31 GHz for a GaAs-channel MOSFET and a maximum frequency of oscillation f_max of 47 GHz have also been measured.     

AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on SiC with f/sub T/ of over 120 GHz

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on semi-insulating SiC substrates with a 0.12 /spl mu/m gate length have been fabricated. These 0.12-/spl mu/m gate-length devices exhibited maximum drain current density as high as 1.23 A/mm and peak extrinsic transconductance of 314 mS/mm. The threshold voltage was -5.2 V. A unity current gain cutoff frequency (f/sub T/) of 121 GHz and maximum frequency of oscillation (f/sub max/) of 162 GHz were measured on these devices. These f/sub T/ and f/sub max/ values are the highest ever reported values for GaN-based HEMTs.     

2 V-operated InGaP-AlGaAs-InGaAs enhancement-mode pseudomorphic HEMT

A low-voltage single power supply enhancement-mode InGaP-AlGaAs-InGaAs pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor (PHEMT) is reported for the first time. The fabricated 0.5/spl times/160 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ device shows low knee voltage of 0.3 V, drain-source current (I/sub DS/) of 375 mA/mm and maximum transconductance of 550 mS/mm when drain-source voltage (V/sub DS/) was 2.5 V. High-frequency performance was also achieved; the cut-off frequency(F/sub t/) is 60 GHz and maximum oscillation frequency(F/sub max/) is 128 GHz. The noise figure of the 160-/spl mu/m gate width device at 17 GHz was measured to be 1.02 dB with 10.12 dB associated gain. The E-mode InGaP-AlGaAs-InGaAs PHEMT exhibits a high output power density of 453 mW/mm with a high linear gain of 30.5 dB at 2.4 GHz. The E-mode PHEMT can also achieve a high maximum power added efficiency (PAE) of 70%, when tuned for maximum PAE.     

Photo-CVD SiO/sub 2/ layers on AlGaN and AlGaN-GaN MOSHFET

High-quality SiO/sub 2/ was successfully deposited onto AlGaN by photochemical vapor deposition (photo-CVD) using a D/sub 2/ lamp as the excitation source. The resulting interface state density was only 1.1 /spl times/ 10/sup 11/ cm/sup -2/eV/sup -1/, and the oxide leakage current was dominated by Poole-Frenkel emission. Compared with AlGaN-GaN metal-semiconductor HFET (MESHFETs) with similar structure, the gate leakage current is reduced by more than four orders of magnitude by using the photo-CVD oxide layer as gate oxide in AlGaN-GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor heterojunction field-effect transistors (MOSHFETs). With a 2-/spl mu/m gate, the saturated I/sub ds/, maximum g/sub m/ and gate voltage swing (GVS) of the fabricated nitride-based MOSHFET were 572 mA/mm, 68 mS/mm, and 8 V, respectively.     

DC and RF characteristics of E-mode Ga/sub 0.51/In/sub 0.49/P-In/sub 0.15/Ga/sub 0.85/As pseudomorphic HEMTs

The DC and RF characteristics of Ga/sub 0.49/In/sub 0.51/P-In/sub 0.15/Ga/sub 0.85/As enhancement- mode pseudomorphic HEMTs (pHEMTs) are reported for the first time. The transistor has a gate length of 0.8 /spl mu/m and a gate width of 200 /spl mu/m. It is found that the device can be operated with gate voltage up to 1.6 V, which corresponds to a high drain-source current (I/sub DS/) of 340 mA/mm when the drain-source voltage (V/sub DS/) is 4.0 V. The measured maximum transconductance, current gain cut-off frequency, and maximum oscillation frequency are 255.2 mS/mm, 20.6 GHz, and 40 GHz, respectively. When this device is operated at 1.9 GHz under class-AB bias condition, a 14.7-dBm (148.6 mW/mm) saturated power with a power-added efficiency of 50% is achieved when the drain voltage is 3.5 V. The measured F/sub min/ is 0.74 dB under I/sub DS/=15 mA and V/sub DS/=2 V.     

High breakdown voltage (Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P/InGaAs quasi-enhancement-mode pHEMT with field-plate technology

A high breakdown voltage and a high turn-on voltage (Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P/InGaAs quasi-enhancement-mode (E-mode) pseudomorphic HEMT (pHEMTs) with field-plate (FP) process is reported for the first time. Between gate and drain terminal, the transistor has a FP metal of 1 /spl mu/m, which is connected to a source terminal. The fabricated 0.5/spl times/150 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ device can be operated with gate voltage up to 1.6 V owing to its high Schottky turn-on voltage (V/sub ON/=0.85 V), which corresponds to a high drain-to-source current (I/sub ds/) of 420 mA/mm when drain-to-source voltage (V/sub ds/) is 3.5 V. By adopting the FP technology and large barrier height (Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P layer design, the device achieved a high breakdown voltage of -47 V. The measured maximum transconductance, current gain cutoff frequency and maximum oscillation frequency are 370 mS/mm, 22 GHz , and 85 GHz, respectively. Under 5.2-GHz operation, a 15.2 dBm (220 mW/mm) and a 17.8 dBm (405 mW/mm) saturated output power can be achieved when drain voltage are 3.5 and 20 V. These characteristics demonstrate that the field-plated (Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P E-mode pHEMTs have great potential for microwave power device applications.     

High-voltage normally off GaN MOSFETs on sapphire substrates

Gallium nitride self-aligned MOSFETs were fabricated using low-pressure chemical vapor-deposited silicon dioxide as the gate dielectric and polysilicon as the gate material. Silicon was implanted into an unintentionally doped GaN layer using the polysilicon gate to define the source and drain regions, with implant activation at 1100/spl deg/C for 5 min in nitrogen. The GaN MOSFETs have a low gate leakage current of less than 50 pA for circular devices with W/L=800/128 /spl mu/m. Devices are normally off with a threshold voltage of +2.7 V and a field-effect mobility of 45 cm/sup 2//Vs at room temperature. The minimum on-resistance measured is 1.9 m/spl Omega//spl middot/cm/sup 2/ with a gate voltage of 34 V (W/L=800/2 /spl mu/m). High-voltage lateral devices had a breakdown voltage of 700 V with gate-drain spacing of 9 /spl mu/m (80 V//spl mu/m), showing the feasibility of self-aligned GaN MOSFETs for high-voltage integrated circuits.     

GaAs-MISFETs with insulating gate films formed by direct oxidation and by oxinitridation of recessed GaAs surfaces

Direct oxidation by an ultraviolet (UV) and ozone process and oxinitridation (plasma nitridation after oxidation) of GaAs surfaces were used to form nanometer-scale gate insulating layers for depletion-type recessed gate GaAs-MISFETs. The drain current-drain voltage characteristics of the oxide gate devices exhibit lower transconductance (max. 40 mS/mm), lower breakdown voltage and smaller gate capacitance than the oxinitrided gate devices. The presence of hysteresis in the oxide gate devices is also apparent. The maximum transconductance of the oxinitrided gate devices is 110 mS/mm and they have a sharper pinch-off, compared to the oxide gate devices. In addition, no hysteresis is observed in their current voltage curves. The current gain cutoff frequency of 1.4 /spl mu/m gate-length FETs for both types is 6 GHz. These results correspond well with results obtained from characterization of these insulating films.     

High-performance enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN HEMTs using fluoride-based plasma treatment

We report a novel approach in fabricating high-performance enhancement mode (E-mode) AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The fabrication technique is based on fluoride-based plasma treatment of the gate region in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs and post-gate rapid thermal annealing with an annealing temperature lower than 500/spl deg/C. Starting with a conventional depletion-mode HEMT sample, we found that fluoride-based plasma treatment can effectively shift the threshold voltage from -4.0 to 0.9 V. Most importantly, a zero transconductance (g/sub m/) was obtained at V/sub gs/=0 V, demonstrating for the first time true E-mode operation in an AlGaN/GaN HEMT. At V/sub gs/=0 V, the off-state drain leakage current is 28 /spl mu/A/mm at a drain-source bias of 6 V. The fabricated E-mode AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with 1 /spl mu/m-long gate exhibit a maximum drain current density of 310 mA/mm, a peak g/sub m/ of 148 mS/mm, a current gain cutoff frequency f/sub T/ of 10.1 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency f/sub max/ of 34.3 GHz.     

Improved temperature-dependent performances of a novel InGaP-InGaAs-GaAs double channel pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (DC-PHEMT)

A new InGaP-InGaAs-GaAs double channel pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor (DC-PHEMT) has been fabricated successfully. The detailed temperature-dependent performance is investigated. The key features of the studied device are the use of an InGaAs DC structure, triple /spl delta/-doped carrier supplier layers and good Schottky behavior of the InGaP "insulator". For a 1-/spl mu/m gate length device, the turn-on voltage of 1.46 (1.16) V, gate leakage current of 60 [600] /spl mu/A/mm at V/sub GD/ = 15 V, maximum extrinsic transconductance of 162 [145] mS/mm with 310 [260] mA/mm broad operation regime (> 0.9g/sub m,max/), output conductance of 0.41 (0.43) mS/mm, and voltage gain of 390 [335] are obtained at T = 300 [480] K, respectively. In addition, good microwave performance with a flat and wide operation regime is obtained.     

Surface passivation of InGaP/InGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic HEMTs with ultrathin GaS film

We report on the successful surface passivation of wide recess InGaP/InGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic HEMTs with MBE-grown ultrathin GaS film (2 nm) employing a single precursor, tertiarybutyl-galliumsulfide-cubane ([(t-Bu)GaS]/sub 4/). At the recess length of 1.1 /spl mu/m, a GaS-passivated device with a 0.5-/spl mu/m gate length has the maximum transconductance (g/sub m max/) of 347 mS/mm, which is about 40% higher than that of 240 mS/mm for a device without GaS passivation. We found that one of the causes of an increased g/sub m max/ is the decrease of sheet resistance on the recessed surface because GaS passivation has reduced the depletion layer. Meanwhile, the two-terminal gate-to-drain reverse breakdown voltage (BV/sub gd/) was reduced after GaS passivation. The BV/sub gd/ is independent of the recess length between gate and drain (L/sub gd/) for GaS-passivated devices, unlike that for devices without GaS passivation. According to our calculation of the BV/sub gd/ involving the effects of impact ionization and the interface state, the BV/sub gd/ becomes almost independent of the L/sub gd/, when the interface state density (N/sub int/) is below 1/spl times/10/sup 12/ cm/sup -2/. Then, the calculated surface potential at the recess region is less than 0 eV. This result suggests that GaS passivation can remarkably reduce the N/sub int/ at the recess region.     

Modification of transconductance characteristics for ion-implanted GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction MESFETs

Inverted GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures grown by MOCVD have been used to fabricate conventional ion-implanted MESFETs. Two types of GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunctions are studied. One type has a compositionally graded AlGaAs layer which provides a built-in field and corresponding quantum well at the heterointerface. The other type has a constant-composition AlGaAs layer. 0.5 mu m gate devices fabricated using the ungraded AlGaAs layer show a maximum extrinsic transconductance G/sub m/ of 280 mS/mm and a small G/sub m/ variation over a gate voltage range of 1.5 V. In comparison, devices fabricated using the graded AlGaAs layer exhibit higher transconductance over all the gate voltages and an enhancement of G/sub m/ up to 420 mS/mm at low gate bias.<>     

1-μm Enhancement Mode GaAs N-Channel MOSFETs With Transconductance Exceeding 250 mS/mm

In this letter, 1-mum GaAs-based enhancement-mode n-channel devices with channel mobility of 5500 cm²/Vmiddots and g _m exceeding 250 mS/mm have been fabricated. The measured device parameters including threshold voltage V_th, maximum extrinsic transconductance g_m, saturation current I_dss , on-resistance R_on, and gate current are 0.11 V, 254 mS/mm, 380 mA/mm, 4.5 Omegamiddotmm, and < 56 pA for a first wafer and 0.08 V, 229 mS/mm, 443 mA/mm, 4.5 Omegamiddotmm, and < 90 pA for a second wafer, respectively. With an intrinsic transconductance g_mi of 434 mS/mm, GaAs enhancement-mode MOSFETs have reached expected intrinsic device performance     

60-GHz high power performance In/sub 0.35/Al/sub 0.65/As-In/sub 0-35/Ga/sub 0.65/As metamorphic HEMTs on GaAs

We report on a double-pulse doped, double recess In/sub 0.35/Al/sub 0.65/As-In/sub 0.35/Ga/sub 0.65/As metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (MHEMT) on GaAs substrate. This 0.15-/spl mu/m gate MHEMT exhibits excellent de characteristics, high current density of 750 mA/mm, extrinsic transconductance of 700 mS/mm. The on and off state breakdown are respectively of 5 and 13 V and defined It gate current density of 1 mA/mm. Power measurements at 60 GHz were performed on these devices. Biased between 2 and 5 V, they demonstrated a maximum output power of 390 mW/mm at 3.1 V of drain voltage with 2.8 dB power gain and a power added efficiency (PAE) of 18%. The output power at 1 dB gain compression is still of 300 mW/mm. Moreover, the linear power gain is of 5.2 dB. This is to our knowledge the best output power density of any MHEMT reported at this frequency.