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IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics

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Advance publication (published online immediately after acceptance)

Volume E89-C No.7  (Publication Date:2006/07/01)

    Special Section on Heterostructure Microelectronics with TWHM2005
  • FOREWORD

    Takatomo ENOKI  

     
    FOREWORD

      Page(s):
    873-873
  • Future of Heterostructure Microelectronics and Roles of Materials Research for Its Progress

    Hideki HASEGAWA  Seiya KASAI  Taketomo SATO  Tamotsu HASHIZUME  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    874-882

    With advent of the ubiquitous network era and due to recent progress of III-V nanotechnology, the present III-V heterostructure microelectronics will turn into what one might call III-V heterostructure nanoelectronics, and may open up a new future in much wider application areas than today, combining information technology, nanotechnology and biotechnology. Instead of the traditional top-down approach, new III-V heterostructure nanoelectronics will be formed on nanostructure networks formed by combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches. In addition to communication devices, emerging devices include high speed digital LSIs, various sensors, various smart-chips, quantum LSIs and quantum computation devices covering varieties of application areas. Ultra-low power quantum LSIs may become brains of smart chips and other nano-space systems. Achievements of new functions and higher performances and their on chip integration are key issues. Key processing issue remains to be understanding and control of nanostructure surfaces and interfaces in atomic scale.

  • InP DHBT Integrated Circuits for Fiber-Optic High-Speed Applications

    Jean GODIN  Agnieszka KONCZYKOWSKA  Muriel RIET  Jacques MOULU  Philippe BERDAGUER  Filipe JORGE  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    883-890

    Various mixed-signal very-high-speed integrated circuits have been developed using InP DHBTs. These circuits have been designed for fiber-optic 43 Gbit/s transmissions applications. They include: on the transmitting side, a clocked driver and an EAM driver, as well as a PSBT/DQPSK precoder; on the receiving side, a sensitive decision circuit, a limiting amplifier and an eye monitor. System experiments made possible by these circuits include a 6 Tbit/s transmission on >6000 km distance.

  • Novel Devices for (Sub)millimeter-Wave Space Applications

    Jan V. GRAHN  Piotr STARSKI  Jan STAKE  T. Sergey CHEREDNICHENKO  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    891-897

    Submillimeter-wave space applications require special components for power generation, detection and multiplication. This article presents recent progress in three various solid-state device technologies for submillimeter-wave space instruments: the InP HEMT for ultra-low noise detection at very low power in the IF amplifier, the heterostructure barrier varactor in the frequency multiplier, and the superconducting hot electron bolometer mixer for quantum-limited heterodyne detection above 700 GHz.

  • RF MEMS--Enabling Technology for Millimeter-Waves

    Youngwoo KWON  Sanghyo LEE  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    898-905

    This paper presents high-performance millimeter-wave passive devices using MEMS technology. The purpose of this paper is to show the possibility of MEMS technology as an enabling technology for millimeter-waves. The loss and cost issues, which have been the inherent barrier for commercialization of mm-waves, can be solved by RF MEMS technology. Successful demonstrations of MEMS technology for mm-waves include novel CPW transmission lines, digital impedance tuners, analog tunable band-pass filters, reconfigurable low-pass filters, V-band digital distributed phase shifters and 2-D mechanical beam-steering antennas. All these circuits were implemented for 30-65 GHz frequency range, and show the state-of-the-art performance, which is beyond the limit set by the conventional technology.

  • Review of Recent Developments in Growth of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron Mobility Transistors on 4H-SiC by Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy

    Andrea CORRION  Christiane POBLENZ  Patrick WALTEREIT  Tomas PALACIOS  Siddharth RAJAN  Umesh K. MISHRA  Jim S. SPECK  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    906-912

    In this paper we review our recent work developing the growth of AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on SiC (0001) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). State-of-the-art AlGaN/GaN HEMTs have been achieved using MBE-grown material. Buffer leakage was an important limiting factor for early devices. We have shown that by appropriately controlling the Al/N flux ratio during growth of the nucleation layer on SiC(0001), low-leakage GaN buffers can be subsequently grown. In addition, a "modulated growth" technique was developed to achieve large area uniformity and surface morphology control. High-performance HEMTs were fabricated utilizing these two techniques. On 200 nm gate-length devices, at 4 GHz an output power density of 8.4 W/mm was obtained with a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 67% at a drain bias of 30 V. At a higher drain bias (42 V), 13.7 W/mm with a PAE of 55% was achieved.

  • Hot-Electron Transport and Noise in GaN Two-Dimensional Channels for HEMTs

    Arvydas MATULIONIS  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    913-920

    Accumulation of non-equilibrium longitudinal optical (LO) phonons (termed hot phonons) is considered as a possible cause for limitation of frequency of operation of GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs). The experimental data on noise temperature of hot electrons at a microwave frequency as a function of supplied electric power is used to extract information on hot phonons: the hot-phonon lifetime, the equivalent hot-phonon temperature, the effective occupancy of hot-phonon states involved into electron-LO-phonon interaction. The possible ways for controlling the hot-phonon effect on electron drift velocity through variation of electron density, channel composition, and hot-phonon lifetime are discussed. The expected dependence of hot-electron drift velocity on hot-phonon lifetime is confirmed experimentally. A self-consistent explanation of different frequency behaviour of InP-based and GaN-based HEMTs is obtained from a comparative study of hot-phonon effects.

  • Epitaxial Growth of SiGe Interband Tunneling Diodes on Si(001) and on Si0.7Ge0.3 Virtual Substrates

    Mathieu STOFFEL  Jing ZHANG  Oliver G. SCHMIDT  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    921-925

    We present room temperature current voltage characteristics from SiGe interband tunneling diodes epitaxially grown on highly resistive Si(001) substrates. In this case, a maximum peak to valley current ratio (PVCR) of 5.65 was obtained. The possible integration of a SiGe tunnel diode with a strained Si transistor lead us to investigate the growth of SiGe interband tunneling diodes on Si0.7Ge0.3 virtual substrates. A careful optimization of the layer structure leads to a maximum PVCR of 1.36 at room temperature. The latter value can be further increased to 2.26 at 3.7 K. Our results demonstrate that high quality SiGe interband tunneling diodes can be realized, which is of great interest for future memory and high speed applications.

  • Terahertz Emission and Detection by Plasma Waves in Nanometer Size Field Effect Transistors

    Wojciech KNAP  Jerzy USAKOWSKI  Frederic TEPPE  Nina DYAKONOVA  Abdelouahad El FATIMY  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    926-930

    Plasma oscillations in nanometer field effect transistors are used for detection and generation of electromagnetic radiation of THz frequency. Following first observations of resonant detection in 150 nm gate length GaAs HEMT, we describe recent observations of room temperature detection in nanometer Si MOSFETs, resonant detection in GaN/AlGaN HEMTs and improvement of room temperature detection in GaAs HEMTs due to the drain current. Experiments on spectrally resolved THz emission are described that involve room and liquid helium temperature emission from nanometer GaInAs and GaN HEMTs.

  • InP DHBT Based IC Technology for over 80 Gbit/s Data Communications

    Rachid DRIAD  Robert E. MAKON  Karl SCHNEIDER  Ulrich NOWOTNY  Rolf AIDAM  Rudiger QUAY  Michael SCHLECHTWEG  Michael MIKULLA  Gunter WEIMANN  

     
    PAPER-High-Speed HBTs and ICs

      Page(s):
    931-936

    In this paper, we report a manufacturable InP DHBT technology, suitable for medium scale mixed-signal and monolithic microwave integrated circuits. The InGaAs/InP DHBTs were grown by MBE and fabricated using conventional process techniques. Devices with an emitter junction area of 4.8 µm2 exhibited peak cutoff frequency (fT) and maximum oscillation frequency (fMAX) values of 265 and 305 GHz, respectively, and a breakdown voltage (BVCEo) of over 5 V. Using this technology, a set of mixed-signal IC building blocks for ≥ 80 Gbit/s fibre optical links, including distributed amplifiers (DA), voltage controlled oscillators (VCO), and multiplexers (MUX), have been successfully fabricated and operated at 80 Gbit/s and beyond.

  • Microwave Class-F InGaP/GaAs HBT Power Amplifier Considering up to 7th-Order Higher Harmonic Frequencies

    Masato SEKI  Ryo ISHIKAWA  Kazuhiko HONJO  

     
    PAPER-High-Speed HBTs and ICs

      Page(s):
    937-942

    The first realization of a class-F InGaP/GaAs HBT amplifier considering up to 7th-order higher harmonic frequencies, operating at 1.9-GHz band, is described. A total number of open-circuited stubs for higher harmonic frequency treatment is successfully reduced without changing a class-F load circuit condition, using a low-cost and low-loss resin (tan δ=0.0023) circuit board. In class-F amplifier design at microwave frequency ranges, not only increasing treated orders of higher harmonic frequencies for a class-F load circuit, but also decreasing parasitic capacitances of a transistor is important. Influence of a base-collector capacitance, Cbc, for power added efficiency, PAE, and collector efficiency, ηc, was investigated by using a two-dimensional device simulator and a harmonic balance simulator. Measured maximum PAE and ηc reached 74.2% and 76.6%, respectively, using a fabricated class-F InGaP/GaAs HBT amplifier with collector doping density of 21016 cm-3. In case circuit losses were de-embedded for the experimental results, PAE and ηc were estimated as 78.7% and 81.2%, respectively. These are very close to obtainable maximum PAE for the use of the InGaP/GaAs HBT.

  • Effects of Rapid Thermal Annealing on Bias-Stress-Induced Base Leakage in InGaP/GaAs Collector-Up Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors Fabricated with B Ion Implantation

    Kazuhiro MOCHIZUKI  Ken-ichi TANAKA  Takashi SHIOTA  Takafumi TANIGUCHI  Hiroyuki UCHIYAMA  

     
    PAPER-High-Speed HBTs and ICs

      Page(s):
    943-948

    The effects of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on bias-stress-induced base leakage were investigated in InGaP/GaAs collector-up heterojunction bipolar transistors (C-up HBTs) fabricated with boron ion implantation. C-up HBTs annealed at 700 for 1 s had negligible leakage, while non-annealed C-up HBTs had leakage (with an activation energy, Ea, of 0.17 eV) that exponentially increased with bias time. Because this Ea is almost the same as that of the hole traps (0.25 eV) observed in the InGaP emitters of non-annealed C-up HBTs, we attribute the leakage to hole tunneling from bases to emitters. By reducing the initial trap density using RTA, we stabilized current gain even after 1,030 h of testing at a junction temperature of 210 and a collector current density of 40 kA/cm2.

  • Novel Fabrication Technology for High Yield Sub-100-nm-Gate InP-Based HEMTs

    Hideaki MATSUZAKI  Takashi MARUYAMA  Takatomo ENOKI  Masami TOKUMITSU  

     
    PAPER-Millimeter-Wave Devices

      Page(s):
    949-953

    A novel fabrication technology for lateral scale-down of sub-100-nm-gate InP-based HEMTs is presented. The fabricated device, whose structure features a reduced distance between the gate and ohmic metals of less than 100 nm, exhibits low ohmic resistances and improved DC and RF characteristics with good uniformity across a wafer. A fabricated 130-nm-gate lattice-matched InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT exhibits an extrinsic transconductance of 1.3 S/mm. This is 25% increase compared to that of a HEMT fabricated with our conventional process, which is explained by the reduction of RS. The average current-gain-cutoff-frequency (fT) of 261 GHz was obtained with a small deviation of 9.0 GHz. Uniform characteristics with high yield were also confirmed for HEMTs with shorter gates. The average fT of 290 GHz with a standard deviation of 9.3 GHz was obtained for 55-nm-gate HEMTs. The developed fabrication technology is promising for improving the electrical characteristics of sub-100-nm-gate InP-based HEMTs and for their integration.

  • W-Band Active Integrated Antenna Oscillator Based on Full-Wave Design Methodology and 0.1-µm Gate InP-Based HEMTs

    Koji INAFUNE  Eiichi SANO  Hideaki MATSUZAKI  Toshihiko KOSUGI  Takatomo ENOKI  

     
    PAPER-Millimeter-Wave Devices

      Page(s):
    954-958

    An active integrated antenna (AIA) oscillator consisting of an active circuit and planar antenna on the same substrate can be used as a high-performance, low-cost, small component for millimeter-to-sub-millimeter wave applications. We describe a highly extended, finite-difference-time-domain full-wave analysis method for designing AIA circuits precisely. It treats active devices as distributed elements. Using this method and 0.1-µm-gate InP-based HEMTs, we fabricated W-band AIA oscillators with an oscillation frequency of 111 GHz.

  • HEMT CCD Matched Filter for Spread Spectrum Communication

    Takahiro SUGIYAMA  Eiji NISHIMORI  Satoru ONO  Kiyoshi KAWAGUCHI  Atsushi NAKAGAWA  

     
    PAPER-Millimeter-Wave Devices

      Page(s):
    959-964

    An HEMT CCD (charge-coupled-device) matched filter for spread-spectrum communication was developed. For higher data rates, it was fabricated using a two-phase CCD based on HEMT technology. It operates at 1.6 GHz, and its calculated data rate is 100 Mbps with a PN data length of 16 bits (PN data rate is 1.6 GHz). And it attains a charge transfer efficiency (CTE) of 0.975 at 2 GHz. The HEMT CCD matched filter dissipates 173 mW from a 10-Vp-p supply, and its chip size is 0.961.03 mm. It will thus be useful for optical communication and other high-data-rate applications utilizing spread-spectrum (SS) communication.

  • Experiment and Theoretical Analysis of Voltage-Controlled Sub-THz Oscillation of Resonant Tunneling Diodes

    Masahiro ASADA  Naoyuki ORIHASHI  Safumi SUZUKI  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    965-971

    Experimental result and theoretical analysis are reported for bias-voltage dependence of oscillation frequency in resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) integrated with slot antennas. Frequency change of 18 GHz is obtained experimentally for a device with the central oscillation frequency of 470 GHz. The observed frequency change is attributed to the bias-voltage dependence of the transit time of electrons across the RTD layers, which results in a voltage-dependent capacitance added to RTD. Theoretical analysis taking into account this transit time is in reasonable agreement with the observed results. Voltage-controlled RTD oscillators in the terahertz range are expected from the theoretical results. A structure suitable for large frequency change is also discussed briefly.

  • Current Gain and Voltage Gain in Hot Electron Transistors without Base Layer

    Yasuyuki MIYAMOTO  Ryo NAKAGAWA  Issei KASHIMA  Masashi ISHIDA  Nobuya MACHIDA  Kazuhito FURUYA  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    972-978

    The feasibility of a new transistor structure was demonstrated through an experimental observation of current gain and voltage gain. The proposed transistor structure is a hot electron transistor without a base layer to minimize scattering. Electron emission from the emitter is controlled using positively biased Schottky gate electrodes located on both sides of the emitter mesa. Monte Carlo simulation shows an estimated delay time of 0.17 ps and low gate leakage current with open-circuit voltage gain over unity. To confirm the basic operation, the device with a 25 nm wide emitter was fabricated. To obtain saturated current-voltage characteristics, the emitter was surrounded by gates and parasitic regions were eliminated by electron beam lithography. The observed open-circuit voltage gain was 25. To obtain a low leakage current, an electron energy smaller than the Γ-L separation was necessary to maintain the ballistic nature of the electron. When the gate-emitter voltage was 0.8 V, the gate leakage current was only 4% of the collector current. Thus voltage amplication and current amplification were confirmed simultaneously.

  • A Design of Continuous-Time Delta-Sigma Modulators Using a Fully-Differential Resonant-Tunneling Comparator

    Keisuke EGUCHI  Masaru CHIBASHI  Shinpei NAKAGAWA  Mitsuhiro TANIHATA  Takao WAHO  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    979-984

    Ultrahigh-speed continuous-tine delta-sigma modulators (DSMs) have been designed by using a fully-differential comparator consisting of resonant-tunneling diodes (RTDs) and HEMTs. Continuous-time lowpass and bandpass filters using HEMTs have also been incorporated to obtain lowpass- and bandpass-type DSMs, respectively. Circuit simulation assuming 0.1-µm InP-based HEMT and RTD technology has revealed a successful operation of the 2nd-order lowpass DSM at a sampling frequency of 20 GHz. The clock frequency was 10 GHz because of the double sampling function of the present comparator. The 2nd-order bandpass DSM has also been designed with a center frequency of 3 GHz. These results clearly show high potential of the present delta-sigma modulators.

  • Structure-Sensitive Design for Wider Tunable Operation of Terahertz Plasmon-Resonant Photomixer

    Mitsuhiro HANABE  Takuya NISHIMURA  Masaki MIYAMOTO  Taiichi OTSUJI  Eiichi SANO  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    985-992

    We performed numerical analyses on structure sensitive field emission properties of our proposing plasmon resonant photomixer (PRX) in the terahertz range. The photomixer incorporates doubly interdigitated grating strips for gate electrodes and a vertical resonator structure for realizing highly efficient terahertz emission even at room temperature. We investigated the dependence of total field emission properties of PRX's on their material and dimension parameters. Introduction of low-conductive gate electrodes and ac-coupled 2D periodic plasmon gratings with depleted connecting portions are effective for expanding its lower cutoff frequency. The cutoff frequency, which is around 1.0 THz in standard metal-gates configuration, is expanded to less than 500 GHz. The output intensity could also be amplified more than double. On the other hand, a shorter vertical cavity is effective for expanding its upper cutoff frequency, which is expanded close to vertical resonant frequency, while maintaining the lower cutoff frequency. The combination of these design rules can realize much broader bandwidth operation.

  • Non Resonant Response to Terahertz Radiation by Submicron CMOS Transistors

    Yahya Moubarak MEZIANI  Jerzy USAKOWSKI  Nina DYAKONOVA  Wojciech KNAP  Dalius SELIUTA  Edmundas SIRMULIS  Jan DEVENSON  Gintaras VALUSIS  Frederic BOEUF  Thomas SKOTNICKI  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    993-998

    Experimental investigations on detection of terahertz radiation are presented. We used plasma wave instability phenomenon in nanometer Silicon field effect transistor. A 30 nm gate length transistor was illuminated by THz radiation at room temperature. We observe a maximum signal near to the threshold voltage. This result clearly demonstrates the possibility of plasma wave THz operation of these nanometer scale devices. The response was attributed to a non resonant detection. We also demonstrate the possibility to observe a resonant detection on the same devices.

  • Novel Resonant Tunneling Diode Oscillator Capable of Large Output Power Operation

    Youhei OOKAWA  Shigeru KISHIMOTO  Koichi MAEZAWA  Takashi MIZUTANI  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    999-1004

    A novel resonant tunneling diode (RTD) oscillator is proposed, which overcomes the problems of the conventional RTD oscillators, such as the low-frequency spurious oscillation and the bias instability. Our proposal consists of two RTDs connected serially, and the resonator connected to the node between two RTDs. This circuit separates the oscillation node from the bias nodes, and suppresses the above mentioned problems. This relaxes the severe restriction on the RTD area, and makes it possible to supply higher power to a load. Circuit simulation shows that with this circuit more than 2 mW power can be supplied to the 50 Ω resistive load at 100 GHz using RTDs having 105 A/cm2-peak current density and 20 µm2-area. It also shows that the dc-to-RF conversion efficiency is as good as that of conventional ones. Furthermore, we have studied the extension of this oscillator having 4 RTDs connected serially. Circuit simulations revealed that using this circuit the power can be doubled with a good conversion efficiency.

  • Terahertz Frequency Multiplier Operation of Two Dimensional Plasmon Resonant Photomixer

    Takuya NISHIMURA  Mitsuhiro HANABE  Masaki MIYAMOTO  Taiichi OTSUJI  Eiichi SANO  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    1005-1011

    We analytically investigated the feasibility of multiplier operation in the terahertz range for our original plasmon resonant photomixer. The photomixer features two unique structures (doubly interdigitated gate gratings and a vertical cavity) for higher radiation efficiencies. Its total field emission properties are the result of a combination of plasmon excitation dynamics and electromagnetic field dynamics. The plasmon excitation formulated by the hydrodynamic equations exhibits fundamental and harmonic resonances whose intensities monotonically decrease with the number of harmonics due to the dispersive plasma damping factors. The electromagnetic dynamics, on the other hand, formulated by the Maxwell's equations, reflect material- and structure-dependent device parameters; the grating-bi-coupled plasmonic cavity together with the vertical cavity structures produce nonlinear field emission properties. This results in extraordinary field enhancement at distinct frequencies inconsistent with the plasmon resonances. The frequency-dependent FDTD (finite difference time domain method) Maxwell's simulation revealed that the field emission peak frequency shifted upward apart from the fundamental mode of plasmon resonant frequency and approached to its second harmonic frequency with increasing the electron density in the plasmon cavity. Calculated total field emission spectra indicated that highly dense 2D-plasmon conditions enable frequency-doubler operation in the terahertz range.

  • Plasma Instability and Terahertz Generation in HEMTs Due to Electron Transit-Time Effect

    Victor RYZHII  Akira SATOU  Michael S. SHUR  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    1012-1019

    We study the coupled spatio-temporal variations of the electron density and the electric field (electron plasma oscillations) in high-electron mobility transistors using the developed device model. The excitation of electron plasma oscillations in the terahertz range of frequencies might lead to the emission of terahertz radiation. In the framework of the model developed, we calculate the resonant plasma frequencies and find the conditions for the plasma oscillations self-excitation (plasma instability) We show that the transit-time effect in the high-electric field region near the drain edge of the channel of high-electron mobility transistors can cause the self-excitation of the plasma oscillations. It is shown that the self-excitation of plasma oscillations is possible when the ratio of the electron velocity in the high field region, ud, and the gate length, Lg, i.e., the inverse transit time are sufficiently large in comparison with the electron collision frequency in the gated channel, ν. The transit-time mechanism of plasma instability under consideration can superimpose on the Dyakonov-Shur mechanism predicted previously strongly affecting the conditions of the instability and, hence, terahertz emission. The instability mechanism under consideration might shed light on the origin of terahertz emission from high electron mobility transistors observed in recent experiments.

  • Impurity Diffusion in InGaAs Esaki Tunnel Diodes of Varied Defect Densities

    Hideki ONO  Satoshi TANIGUCHI  Toshi-kazu SUZUKI  

     
    PAPER-THz Devices

      Page(s):
    1020-1024

    We have fabricated and investigated InGaAs Esaki tunnel diodes, grown on GaAs or InP substrates, of varied defect densities. The tunnel diodes exhibit the same I-V characteristics in spite of the variation of defect density. Under the simple thermal annealing and forward current stress tests, the change in the valley current was not observed, indicating that defects were not increased. On the other hand, the reduction in the peak current due to the carbon diffusion was observed under both tests. The diffusion was enhanced by the stress current owing to the energy dissipation associated with the nonradiative electron-hole recombination. From the reduction rates of the peak current, we obtained the thermal and current-enhanced carbon diffusion constants in InGaAs, which are independent of defect density. Although thermal diffusion of carbon in InGaAs is comparable with that in GaAs, the current-induced enhancement of diffusion in InGaAs is extremely weaker than that in GaAs. The difference between activation energy of thermal and current-enhanced diffusion is 0.8 eV, which is independent of stress current density and close to InGaAs bandgap energy. This indicates that the current-enhanced diffusion is dominated by the energy dissipation associated with nonradiative band-to-band recombination. This enhancement mechanism well explains that the current-induced enhancement is independent of defect density and extremely weak. We also have found that the current-enhanced diffusion constant is approximately proportional to the square of current density, suggesting that the recombination in the depletion layer dominates the current-enhanced diffusion.

  • Enhancement-Mode AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with Low On-Resistance and Low Knee-Voltage

    Yong CAI  Yugang ZHOU  Kei May LAU  Kevin J. CHEN  

     
    PAPER-GaN-Based Devices

      Page(s):
    1025-1030

    Based on fluoride-based plasma treatment of the gate region in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs and post-gate rapid thermal annealing (RTA), enhancement mode (E-mode) AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with low on-resistance and low knee-voltage were fabricated. The fabricated E-mode AlGaN/GaN HEMT with 1 µm-long gate exhibits a threshold voltage of 0.9 V, a knee-voltage of 2.2 V, a maximum drain current density of 310 mA/mm, a peak gm of 148 mS/mm, a current gain cutoff frequency fT of 10.1 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency fmax of 34.3 GHz. In addition, the fluoride-based plasma treatment was also found to be effective in lowering the gate leakage current, in both forward and reverse bias. Two orders of magnitude reducation in gate leakage current was observed in the fabricated E-mode HEMTs compared to the conventional D-mode HEMTs without fluoride-based plasma treatment.

  • A Mechanism of Enhancement-Mode Operation of AlGaN/GaN MIS-HFET

    Daigo KIKUTA  Jin-Ping AO  Junya MATSUDA  Yasuo OHNO  

     
    PAPER-GaN-Based Devices

      Page(s):
    1031-1036

    A model for the enhancement-mode operation of an AlGaN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistor (MIS-HFET) under DC and AC conditions is proposed. In DC operation at positive gate voltages, the MIS-HFET can be divided into a transistor area and a resistor area due to the diode nature of the insulator/AlGaN interface. The transistor area shrinks with the increases in gate voltage. The intrinsic-transistor gate-length reduction causes a drain current increase. The I-V characteristics based on the gradual channel approximation are derived. The ID hysteresis of the MIS-HFET is investigated by a circuit simulation using SPICE. We have confirmed that the hysteresis was caused by the phase difference between the potential variation of the gate insulator/AlGaN interface and that of the gate electrode due to CR components in the gate structure.

  • Strain Sensitivity of AlGaN/GaN HEMT Structures for Sensing Applications

    Oktay YILMAZOGLU  Kabula MUTAMBA  Dimitris PAVLIDIS  Marie Rose MBARGA  

     
    PAPER-GaN-Based Devices

      Page(s):
    1037-1041

    Sensing elements based on AlGaN/GaN HEMT and Schottky diode structures have been investigated in relation with the strain sensitivity of their characteristics. Piezoresistance of the Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN HEMT-channel as well as changes in the current-voltage characteristics of the Schottky diodes have been observed with gauge factor (GF) values ranging between 19 and 350 for the selected biasing conditions. While a stable response to strain was measured, the observed temperature dependence of the channel resistance demonstrates the need for a systematic characterisation of the sensor properties to allow compensation of the observed temperature effects.

  • Temperature and Illumination Dependence of AlGaN/GaN HFET Threshold Voltage

    Masaya OKADA  Ryohei TAKAKI  Daigo KIKUTA  Jin-Ping AO  Yasuo OHNO  

     
    PAPER-GaN-Based Devices

      Page(s):
    1042-1046

    This investigation of the temperature and illumination effects on the AlGaN/GaN HFET threshold voltage shows that it shifts about -1 V under incandescent lamp or blue LED illumination, while almost no shift takes place under red LED illumination. The temperature coefficient for the threshold voltage shift is +3.44 mV/deg under the illuminations and +0.28 mV/deg in darkness. The threshold voltage variation can be attributed to a virtual back-gate effect caused by light-generated buffer layer potential variations. The expressions for the potential variation are derived using Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) statistics and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for the carriers and deep traps in the buffer layer. The expressions indicate that large photoresponses will occur when the electron concentration in the buffer layer is extremely small, that is, highly resistive. In semi-insulating substrates, the substrate potential varies so as to keep the trap occupation function constant. The sign and the magnitude of the threshold voltage variation are explained by the shift of the pinning energy calculated from the Fermi-Dirac distribution function.

  • Improvement of CO Sensitivity in GaN-Based Gas Sensors

    Eunjung CHO  Dimitris PAVLIDIS  Guangyuan ZHAO  Seth M. HUBBARD  Johannes SCHWANK  

     
    PAPER-GaN-Based Devices

      Page(s):
    1047-1051

    Pt Schottky diode gas sensors for carbon monoxide (CO) were fabricated using slightly Si doped bulk GaN grown on sapphire substrate. The influence of diode size, Pt thickness, operating temperature on gas sensitivity was investigated. CO sensitivity was improved six times by optimizing the size and thickness of the Pt contact. Surface restructuring and morphology changes of Pt film were observed after thermal annealing. These changes are enhanced as the film thickness is reduced further and contribute to improve CO sensitivity.

  • Influence of NH3-Plasma Pretreatment before Si3N4 Passivation Film Deposition on Current Collapse in AlGaN/GaN-HEMTs

    Shinichi HOSHI  Toshiharu MARUI  Masanori ITOH  Yoshiaki SANO  Shouhei SEKI  

     
    PAPER-GaN-Based Devices

      Page(s):
    1052-1056

    In AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), Si3N4 passivation film brings effective improvements in the current collapse phenomenon, however, the suppression of this phenomenon in a high voltage operation can not be achieved in only the Si3N4 deposition process. In order to solve this problem, we have demonstrated an NH3-plasma surface pretreatment in the chamber of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) just before Si3N4 deposition process. We found that the optimized NH3-plasma pretreatment could improve the current collapse as compared with only the Si3N4 deposition and an excessive pretreatment made it worse adversely in AlGaN/GaN-HEMTs. It was confirmed by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis that the optimized NH3-plasma pretreatment decreased the carbon contamination such as hydrocarbon on the AlGaN surface and the excessive pretreatment degraded the stoicheiometric composition of AlGaN surface.

  • Cubic GaN/AlGaN HEMTs on 3C-SiC Substrate for Normally-Off Operation

    Masayuki ABE  Hiroyuki NAGASAWA  Stefan POTTHAST  Jara FERNANDEZ  Jorg SCHORMANN  Donat Josef AS  Klaus LISCHKA  

     
    PAPER-GaN-Based Devices

      Page(s):
    1057-1063

    Phase pure cubic (c-) GaN/AlGaN heterostructures on 3C-SiC free standing (001) substrates have successfully been developed. Almost complete (100%) phase pure c-GaN films are achieved with 2-nm surface roughness on 3C-SiC substrate and stoichiometric growth conditions. The polarization effect in c-GaN/AlGaN has been evaluated, based on measuring the transition energy of GaN/AlGaN quantum wells (QWs). It is demonstrated that the polarization electric fields are negligible small in c-GaN/AlGaN/3C-SiC compared with those of hexagonal (h-)GaN/AlGaN, 710 kV/cm for Al content x of 0.15, and 1.4 MV/cm for x of 0.25. A sheet carrier concentration of c-GaN/AlGaN heterojunction interface is estimated to 1.61012 cm-2, one order of magnitude smaller than that of h-GaN/AlGaN. The band diagrams of c-GaN/AlGaN HEMTs have been simulated to demonstrate the normally-off mode operation. The blocking voltage capability of GaN films was demonstrated with C-V measurement of Schottky diode test vehicle, and extrapolated higher than 600 V in c-GaN films at a doping level below 51015 cm-3, to show the possibility for high power electronics applications.

  • Influence of Ohmic Contact Resistance on Transconductance in AlGaN/GaN HEMT

    Yoshikazu HIROSE  Akira HONSHIO  Takeshi KAWASHIMA  Motoaki IWAYA  Satoshi KAMIYAMA  Michinobu TSUDA  Hiroshi AMANO  Isamu AKASAKI  

     
    LETTER-GaN-Based Devices

      Page(s):
    1064-1067

    The correlation between ohmic contact resistivity (ρc) and transconductance (gm) in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) was investigated. To characterize ρc precisely, we fabricated a circular transmission line model (c-TLM) pattern adjoined to a field-effect transistor (FET) pattern on an HEMT. By measuring ohmic contact resistance and sheet resistance using the adjoined c-TLM, intrinsic transconductance (gm0), which is not influenced by the source resistance, can be estimated. The gm0 thus obtained is between 179 and 206 mS/mm. Then, it became possible to calculate the correlation between gm and (ρc. We found that ρc should be below 10-5 Ωcm2 for the improvement of gm in AlGaN/GaN HEMT when Rsh 400 Ω/.

  • Regular Section
  • Monolithically Integrated Mach-Zehnder Interferometer All-Optical Switches by Selective Area MOVPE

    Xueliang SONG  Naoki FUTAKUCHI  Daisuke MIYASHITA  Foo Cheong YIT  Yoshiaki NAKANO  

     
    PAPER-Lasers, Quantum Electronics

      Page(s):
    1068-1079

    We achieved first dynamic all-optical signal processing with a bandgap-engineered MZI SOA all-optical switch. The wide-gap Selective Area Growth (SAG) technique was used to provide multi-bandgap materials with a single step epitaxy. The maximum photoluminescence (PL) peak shift obtained between the active region and the passive region was 192 nm. The static current switching with the fabricated switch indicated a large carrier induced refractive index change; up to 14 π phase shift was obtained with 60 mA injection in the SOA. The carrier recovery time of the SOA for obtaining a phase shift of π was estimated to be 250-300 ps. A clear eye pattern was obtained in 2.5 Gbps all-optical wavelength conversion. This is the first all-optical wavelength conversion demonstration with a bandgap-engineered PIC with either selective area growth or quantum-well intermixing techniques.

  • A Single-Layer Hollow-Waveguide 8-Way Butler Matrix

    Shin-ichi YAMAMOTO  Jiro HIROKAWA  Makoto ANDO  

     
    PAPER-Microwaves, Millimeter-Waves

      Page(s):
    1080-1088

    The authors propose a single-layer hollow-waveguide 8-way Butler matrix. All components of the Butler matrix are in a single layer which contributes to low-cost fabrication. To reduce the length of the couplers, a step structure is installed in the coupled region. 50% length reduction is obtained in comparison with the conventional design using reflection-suppressing posts in the coupled region. The total size of the matrix is 17.1λg6.0λg. The full structure of the matrix is fabricated by hollow waveguides at 22 GHz band and the total measured loss is only 0.25 dB.

  • A Very Low Power 10 MHz CMOS Continuous-Time Bandpass Filter with On-Chip Automatic Tuning

    Gholamreza Zareh FATIN  Mohammad GHADAMI  

     
    PAPER-Electronic Circuits

      Page(s):
    1089-1096

    A second-order CMOS continuous-time bandpass filter with a tuneable 4-12 MHz center frequency (fc) is presented. The Design has been done by using a new second-order block which is based on Gm-C method. This Gm-C filter achieves a dynamic range of 30 dB for 1% IM3, and Q equal to 58 at 12 MHz, while dissipating only 10.5 mW from 3.3 V power supply in 0.35 µm CMOS process. The on-chip indirect automatic tuning circuit uses a phase-locked loop which sets filter center frequency to an external reference clock.

  • Fast and Accurate Power Bus Designer for Multi-Layers High-Speed Digital Boards

    Yong-Ju KIM  Won-Young JUNG  Jae-Kyung WEE  

     
    PAPER-Integrated Electronics

      Page(s):
    1097-1105

    Fast and accurate power bus designer (FAPUD) for multi-layers high-speed digital boards is the power supply network design tool for accurate and precise high speed board. FAPUD is constructed based on two main algorithms of the PBEC (Path Based Equivalent Circuit) model and the network synthesis method. The PBEC model exploits simple arithmetic expressions of the lumped 1-D circuit model from the electrical parameters of a 2-D power distribution network. The circuit level design based on PBEC is carried with the proposed regional approach. The circuit level design directly calculates and determines the size of on-chip decoupling capacitors, the size and the location of off-chip decoupling capacitors, and the effective inductances of the package power bus. As a design output, a lumped circuit model and a pre-layout of the power bus including a whole decoupling capacitors are obtained after processing FAPUD. In the tuning procedure, the board re-optimization considering simultaneous switching noise (SSN) added by I/O switching in can be carried out because the I/O switching effect on a power supply noise can estimate for the operation frequency range with the lumped circuit model. Furthermore, if a design changes or needs to be tuned, FAPUD can modify design by replacing decoupling capacitors without consuming other design resources. Finally, FAPUD is accurate compared with conventional PEEC-based design tools, and its design time is 10 times faster than that of conventional PEEC-based design tools.

  • Self-Starting Pulse Generation from Cooled Erbium-Doped Fiber Ring Laser

    Kazuhiko SUMIMURA  Hidetsugu YOSHIDA  Hisanori FUJITA  Masahiro NAKATSUKA  Minoru YOSHIDA  

     
    LETTER-Lasers, Quantum Electronics

      Page(s):
    1106-1107

    A self-starting pulse laser with an erbium-doped fiber cooled at liquid-nitrogen temperature was demonstrated. The self-starting-pulse fiber-ring laser can produce an approximately 1 ns pulse train without the need for devices for polarization control and compensation of birefringence.

  • Switching Characteristics of All-Optical Wavelength-Selective Switch Using Waveguide-Type Raman Amplifiers and 3-dB Couplers

    Hiroki KISHIKAWA  Nobuo GOTO  

     
    LETTER-Lasers, Quantum Electronics

      Page(s):
    1108-1111

    Switching characteristics such as wavelength dependency and phase dependency are investigated for our proposed switch which consists of waveguide-type Raman amplifiers and 3-dB couplers. As a result, the available range of wavelength and phase shift due to nonlinear effect are estimated about 20 nm around 1.55 µm and about 10 degrees, respectively.

  • Self-Controlled Short Pulse Generator from All-Fiber Coupled Fabry-Perot Cavity

    Kazuhiko SUMIMURA  Hidetsugu YOSHIDA  Hisanori FUJITA  Masahiro NAKATSUKA  Hisashi SAWADA  

     
    LETTER-Lasers, Quantum Electronics

      Page(s):
    1112-1114

    Self-controlled sub-nanosecond pulse generator was demonstrated with an ytterbium-doped fiber. This fiber laser consisted simply of all non-polarization fiber without any devices for polarization control and birefringence compensation. The self-pulse operation system gave an average output power of 0.9 mW in 800-ps duration pulses.

  • 763-nm Laser Light Source for Oxygen Monitoring Using Second Harmonic Generation in Direct-Bonded Quasi-Phase-Matched LiNbO3 Ridge Waveguide

    Osamu TADANAGA  Masaki ASOBE  Yoshiki NISHIDA  Hiroshi MIYAZAWA  Kaoru YOSHINO  Hiroyuki SUZUKI  

     
    LETTER-Lasers, Quantum Electronics

      Page(s):
    1115-1117

    We fabricate a 763-nm laser module based on second-harmonic generation using a direct-bonded quasi-phase-matched LiNbO3 ridge waveguide. We obtained a 0.84-mW output of 763 nm light using a 1526-nm distributed-feedback laser diode. We also demonstrate O2 gas detection using the module output.