MNT-204

UNIT-5

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Fundamentals of carrier transport in quantum structures

Temperature effects

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Topic

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Resonant tunneling diodes

Single electron transistor

Modulation-doped field effect transistor MODFETs

Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBTs)

Double Barrier Tunneling

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Resonant Tunneling Diode

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Figure 1 shows the band diagram of a RTD. It has a semiconductor double-barrier structure containing four heterojunctions, a GaAs/AlAs/GaAs/AlAs/GaAs structure, and one quantum well in the conduction band.

There are three important device parameters for a

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RTD:

The energy barrier height E0, which is the conduction band discontinuity, The energy barrier thickness LB, The quantum well thickness Lw.

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Conduction band of a RTD:

Figure 1

If the well thickness LW, is sufficiently small (on the order of 10 nm or less), a set of discrete energy levels will exist inside the well (such as E1, E2, E3, and E4, in Fig 2a). If the barrier thickness LB, is also very small, resonant tunneling will occur.

When an incident electron has an energy E that exactly equals one of the discrete energy levels inside the well, it will tunnel through the double barrier with a unity (100%) transmission coefficient.

The transmission coefficient decreases rapidly as the energy E deviates from the discrete energy levels. For example, an electron with an energy 10 meV higher or lower than the level E, will result in 105 times reduction in the transmission coefficients, as depicted in Fig.2b

Figure 2

Relation Between LW, LB and En The

transmission coefficient exhibits its first and

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second resonant peaks in GaAs/AlAs RTD are shown in Fig as a function of barrier thickness LB, with the well thickness LW, as a parameter. is apparent that En is essentially independent of LB, but is dependent on LW.

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Construction of RTD: The cross section of a RTD is shown in Fig. The alternating GaAsIAIAs layers are grown sequentially by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on an n+ GaAs substrate. The barrier thicknesses are 1.7 nm and the well thickness is 4.5 nm. The active regions are defined with ohmic contacts.

The top contact is used as a mask to isolate the region under the contact by etching mesas.

V-I characteristic:

The I-V curve is similar to that of a tunnal diode.

At thermal equilibrium, V = 0 , the energy diagram is similar to that in Fig a (here only the lowest energy level E1 is shown).

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As we increase the applied voltage, the electrons in the occupied energy states near the Fermi level to the left side of the first barrier tunnel into the quantum well. The electrons subsequently tunnel through the second barrier into the unoccupied states in the right side.

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Resonance occurs when the energy of the injected electrons becomes approximately equal to the energy level E1, where the transmission probability is maximum. This is illustrated by the energy diagram for V =V1 = V,, where the conduction band edge on the left side is lined up with El. The magnitude of the peak voltage must be at least 2El/q but is usually larger because of additional voltage drops in the accumulation and depletion regions:

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When the voltage is further increased, that is, at V = V2, the conduction band edge is above E1 and the number of electrons that can tunnel decreases, resulting in a small current. The valley current Iv, is due mainly to the excess current components, such as electrons that tunnel via an upper valley in the barrier

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Metalsemiconductor junction
A metalsemiconductor (MS) junction is a type of junction in which a metal comes in close contact with a semiconductor material.

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MODFET
(Modulation Doped Field Effect Transistor) The modulation-doped field-effect transistor (MODFET) is a heterostmcture field-effect device, is a type of FET. Other names commonly applied to the device include high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), two-dimensional electron gas field-effect transistor (TEGFET), and selectively doped heterostructure transistor (SDHT), heterojunction field-effect transistor (HFET).

MODFETs are used in integrated circuits as digital on-off switches. MODFETs can also be used as amplifiers for large amounts of current using a small voltage as a control signal.

A perspective view of a conventional MODFET. The special features of a MODFET are its heterojunction structure under the gate, and the modulation doped layers.

MODFET is a transistor built on the modulation doping principle, which is the doping of a heterostructure (e.g. AlGaAs-GaAs) implemented in such way that the resulting free

electrons are separated from the positive donor ions, due to the separation, electrons remain free and mobile even at the very low temperatures.

Basic Structure: The

AlGaAdInGaAs, and InAlAs/InGaAs heterointerfaces. A basic MODFET structure based on the AlGaAs/GaAs system is shown (next).

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It is seen here that the barrier layer AlGaAs under the gate is doped, while the channel layer GaAs is undoped. (it is the principle of modulation doping). such that carriers from the doped barrier layer are transferred to reside at the heterointerface and are away from the doped region to avoid impurity scattering. The doped barrier layer is typically around 30-nm thick. The top layer of n+-GaAs is for better source and drain ohmic contacts. The top layer of n+-GaAs is for better source and drain ohmic contacts. These contacts are made from alloys containing Ge, such as AuGe. The sourceldrain deeper n+-regions are formed either by ion implantation. Most MODFETs reported are n-channel devices for higher electron mobility.

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MODFETs

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For the device in Fig, AlGaAs is the wide bandgap semiconductor, whereas GaAs is the narrow bandgap semiconductor. The two semiconductors are modulation doped, i.e., the AlGaAs is doped (d1), except for a narrow region (do ), which is undoped, whereas the GaAs is undoped. Electrons in the AIGaAs will diffuse to the undoped GaAs, where a conduction channel can be formed at the surface of the GaAs.

The band diagram of a MODFET in thermal equilibrium condition Fig a.

Similar to a standard Schottky barrier, qBn, is the semicondutor.Ec is the conduction

barrier height of the metal on the wide-bandgap band

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discontinuity for the heterojunction structure, and the pinch-off voltage (VP) given by

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Operation: A key parameter for the operation of a MODFET is the threshold voltage VT, , which is the gate bias at which the channel starts to form between the source and drain. With Fig b. VT, corresponds to the situation when the bottom of the conduction band at the GaAs surface coincides with the Fermi level.

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Other MODFET structures

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Advantages of MODFET structure

The major development effort for MODFETs has been on a channel material that can further improve the electron mobility. Instead of GaAs, InxGa1-x,as has been pursued due to its smaller effective mass. These advantages are found to be directly related to the indium contents: the higher the percentage, the higher the performance.

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Single Electron Transistor

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Heterojunctions
A heterojunction is defined as a junction formed between two dissimilar semiconductors. The two semiconductors are assumed to have different energy bandgaps Eg, different dielectric permittivities s, different work function qs, and different electron affinities (The work function is defined as the energy required to remove an electron from Fermi level EF to a position just outside the material.

The electron affinity is the energy required to remove an electron from the bottom of the conduction band E, to the vacuum level.

Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBTs)

A heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is a transistor in which one or both p-n junctions are formed between dissimilar semiconductors. The primary advantage of an HBT is its high emitter efficiency (). The circuit applications of the HBT are essentially the same as those of bipolar transistors. The HBT has higher-speed and higher frequency capability in circuit operation. The HBT has gained popularity in photonic, microwave, and digital applications. Drawbacks of BJT To achieve a fast base transit time, and hence a high value of cut-off frequency, the basewidth needs to be very small, as shown in equation. Where is associated with the excess minority carrier charge in the, base depletion region.

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The mechanism that limits the extent that the base width can be reduced is punch-through of the base, which occurs when the emitter/base depletion region intersects the collector/base depletion region in the base. Thinner depletion regions can be achieved by increasing the base doping concentration, so that narrower base widths could be achieved without encountering punch-through. But increasing the base doping, degrades the gain, as can be seen from equation

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Design HBT: SiGe has a lower bandgap than Si. If a bipolar transistor could be created with SiGe in the base and Si in the emitter much higher values of gain would be achieved.

A SiGe HBT is produced by sandwiching a SiGe base between a Si collector and a Si emitter.

The band diagram of the SiGe HBT is indicated by the solid line and that for the Si BJT by the dashed line.

In the valence band, the bandgap difference is seen as discontinuities at the emitter/base and collector/base heterojunctions, while in the conduction band it is seen as spikes.

A comparison of the band diagrams in Figure shows that the barrier height to electron flow from emitter to base Eb (conduction band barrier) is much smaller in the SiGe HBT than the Si BJT. This means that the collector current at a given base/emitter voltage will be bigger in a SiGe HBT than in a Si BJT.

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Collector current

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where it has been assumed that Naeff is the same in SiGe and Si. the base current of a SiGe HBT is the same as that for a Si bipolar transistor, and hence the gain Enhancement. obtainable from a SiGe HBT can be obtained by taking the ratio of collector currents: The barrier height to hole flow from the base to the emitter (valence band barrier) is approximately the same in the SiGe HBT and the Si BJT, which means that the base currents of the two types of device will be approximately the same.

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Afvantages

It can be seen that the gain of the HBT is much higher than that of the BJT and that this increased gain is due to an increased collector current.

The increased collector current of a SiGe HBT can be thought of in another way.

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