M. Asif Khan

High electron mobility transistor based on a GaN‐AlxGa1−xN heterojunction

In this letter we report the fabrication and dc characterization of a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) based on a n‐GaN‐Al0.14Ga0.86N heterojunction. The conduction in our low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposited heterostructure is dominated by two‐dimensional electron gas at the heterostructure interface. HEMT devices were fabricated on ion‐implant isolated mesas using Ti/Au for the source drain ohmic and TiW for the gate Schottky. For a device with a 4 μm gate length (10 μm channel opening, i.e., source‐drain separation), a transconductance of 28 mS/mm at 300 K and 46 mS/mm at 77 K was obtained at +0.5 V gate bias. Complete pinchoff was observed for a −6 V gate bias.

Metal semiconductor field effect transistor based on single crystal GaN

In this letter we report the fabrication and characterization of a metal semiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET) based on single crystal GaN. The GaN layer was deposited over sapphire substrate using low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. MESFET devices were fabricated on isolated mesas using TiAu for the source and drain ohmic contacts and silver for the gate Schottky. For devices with a gate length of 4 μm (channel opening, i.e., source to drain separation of 10 μm), a transconductance of 23 mS/mm was obtained at −1 V gate bias. Complete pinch‐off was observed for a gate potential of −12 V.

AlGaN/GaN metal–oxide–semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistors on SiC substrates

We report on AlGaN/GaN metal–oxide–semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistors (MOS-HFETs) grown over insulating 4H–SiC substrates. We demonstrate that the dc and microwave performance of the MOS-HFETs is superior to that of conventional AlGaN/GaN HFETs, which points to the high quality of SiO2/AlGaN heterointerface. The MOS-HFETs could operate at positive gate biases as high as +10 V that doubles the channel current as compared to conventional AlGaN/GaN HFETs of a similar design. The gate leakage current was more than six orders of magnitude smaller than that for the conventional AlGaN/GaN HFETs. The MOS-HFETs exhibited stable operation at elevated temperatures up to 300 °C with excellent pinch-off characteristics. These results clearly establish the potential of using AlGaN/GaN MOS-HFET approach for high power microwave and switching devices.

High‐responsivity photoconductive ultraviolet sensors based on insulating single‐crystal GaN epilayers

We report on the fabrication and characterization of photoconductive ultraviolet detectors based on insulating single‐crystal GaN. The active layer (GaN) was deposited over basal‐plane sapphire substrates using a unique switched atomic‐layer‐epitaxy process. The sensors were measured to have a responsivity of 2000 A/W at a wavelength of 365 nm under a 5‐V bias. The responsivity remained nearly constant for wavelengths from 200 to 365 nm and dropped by three orders of magnitude within 10 nm of the band edge (by 375 nm). We estimate our sensors to have a gain of 6×103 (for wavelength 365 nm) and a bandwidth in excess of 2 kHz. The photosignal exhibited a linear behavior over five orders of incident optical power, thereby implying a very large dynamic range for these GaN‐based ultraviolet sensors.

III–Nitride UV Devices

The need for efficient, compact and robust solid-state UV optical sources and sensors had stimulated the development of optical devices based on III–nitride material system. Rapid progress in material growth, device fabrication and packaging enabled demonstration of high efficiency visible-blind and solar-blind photodetectors, deep-UV light-emitting diodes with emission from 400 to 250 nm, and UV laser diodes with operation wavelengths ranging from 340 to 350 nm. Applications of these UV optical devices include flame sensing; fluorescence-based biochemical sensing; covert communications; air, water and food purification and disinfection; and biomedical instrumentation. This paper provides a review of recent advances in the development of UV optical devices. Performance of state-of-the-art devices as well as future prospects and challenges are discussed.

Nonresonant detection of terahertz radiation in field effect transistors

We present an experimental and theoretical study of nonresonant detection of subterahertz radiation in GaAs/AlGaAs and GaN/AlGaN heterostructure field effect transistors. The experiments were performed in a wide range of temperatures (8–300 K) and for frequencies ranging from 100 to 600 GHz. The photoresponse measured as a function of the gate voltage exhibited a maximum near the threshold voltage. The results were interpreted using a theoretical model that shows that the maximum in photoresponse can be explained by the combined effect of exponential decrease of the electron density and the gate leakage current.

Temperature activated conductance in GaN/AlGaN heterostructure field effect transistors operating at temperatures up to 300 °C

We report on the dc characteristics and microwave performance of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors in the temperature range from 25 to 300 °C. At temperatures above 200 °C, we observe the temperature activated shunt conductance which is independent of the gate voltage (the activation energy is 0.505 eV). The cutoff frequency and the maximum frequency of oscillations vary from 22 and 70 GHz at 25 °C to 5 and 4 GHz at 300 °C, respectively. The gate leakage current in the range of gate biases from −4 to +1 V is small and nearly proportional to the gate voltage even at 300 °C. At temperatures above 200 °C, the gate leakage current is temperature activated (the activation energy is 0.88 eV). These results show that deep traps strongly affect the AlGaN/GaN characteristics at elevated temperatures.

Microwave performance of a 0.25 μm gate AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistor

We fabricated a 0.25 μm gate length AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistor (HFET) with a maximum extrinsic transconductance of 27 mS/mm (at room temperature) limited by the source series resistance. The device exhibited an excellent pinch‐off and a low parasitic output conductance in the saturation regime. We measured the cutoff frequency fT and the maximum oscillation frequency fmax as 11 and 35 GHz, respectively. These values are superior to the highest reported values for field effect transistors based on other wide band‐gap semiconductors such as SiC. These results demonstrate an excellent potential of AlGaN/GaN HFETs for microwave and millimeter wave applications.

Si3N4/AlGaN/GaN–metal–insulator–semiconductor heterostructure field–effect transistors

We report on a metal–insulator–semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistor (MISHFET) using Si3N4 film simultaneously for channel passivation and as a gate insulator. This design results in increased radio-frequency (rf) powers by reduction of the current collapse and it reduces the gate leakage currents by four orders of magnitude. A MISHFET room temperature gate current of about 90 pA/mm increases to only 1000 pA/mm at ambient temperature as high as 300 °C. Pulsed measurements show that unlike metal–oxide–semiconductor HFETs and regular HFETs, in a Si3N4 MISHFET, the gate voltage amplitude required for current collapse is much higher than the threshold voltage. Therefore, it exhibits significantly reduced rf current collapse.

High-temperature performance of AlGaN/GaN HFETs on SiC substrates

The performance results AlGaN-GaN Heterostructure Field Effect Transistors (HFETs) grown on SiC substrates are reported. The maximum transconductance of these devices was 142 mS/mm and the source-drain current was as high as 0.95 A/mm. The maximum dissipated DC power at room temperature was 0.6 MW/cm/sup 2/, which is more than three times higher than that in similar devices grown on sapphire. This high thermal breakdown threshold was achieved primarily due to the effective heat sink through the SiC substrate. These devices demonstrated stable performance at elevated temperatures up to 250/spl deg/C. The source-drain current saturation was observed up to 300/spl deg/C. The leakage current in the below threshold regime was temperature-activated with an activation energy of 0.38 eV.