Effects of electron function periodicity

The relation between real space and reciprocal space is very similar
to that between time domain and frequency domain
• Electron function is periodic over the entire real space
• Any periodic function can be expressed in terms of the “reciprocal
quantity” i.e. periodic functions in time can be expressed in terms of
frequency and those space in terms of reciprocal space
f r  R   f r  f K    f r e iK r d 3r
 f (r )   f K eiK r   f r  R e iK r d 3r
K

f K    f r e iK r 3
d r  eiK R  f r  R e iK r  R d 3r
e iK  R
 f r e
 iK r   3
d r
R
So, e iK
1  eiK R f K 
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Reciprocal lattice vectors
iK R
e  1  K  R  2n, n  I
for all R in the Bravais Lattice
• A reciprocal lattice is defined as the set of K’s satisfying the
above condition
• A reciprocal lattice is defined with reference to a particular
Bravais Lattice

bc

a  2 a  a  2

a  (b  c) c   2 a  b




b  2
 ca a  (b  c) Verify: a b  0
a  (b  c)
  
a  c  0
K  k1a  k2b  k3c
For any     K  R  2 (k1n1  k2 n2  k3n3 )
R  n1 a  n2 b  n3 c
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Free electron momentum and energy
• Free electron wavefunction:  r    f  K e iKr

K
where r is real space distance and K is the reciprocal
lattice vector

• Electron momentum: k [ p  i  k ]
p2  2k 2 x
• Electron energy: E    
2m 2m
1st Brillouin zone

k
-2/a -/a 0 /a 2/a ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Concept of density of states
kz Lets assume parabolic relation between the
ky energy and the wavevectors. Then
E
2 ki2
E  E0   
E0 2 i mi
kx
1/ 2
ki2  2mi E  E0 
This equation can be cast in the form  1, ai  
ai2   2


i  
where i = 1, 2, 3. The volume of the ellipsoid is then given by

3
4
V k1 , k2 , k3   a1a2 a3  3 8m1 m2 m3
4
3

   1/ 2
E  E0
3/ 2

The differential volume between the constant energy surfaces E and E +dE is given by
2
 3
    1/ 2
8m1 m2 m3 E  E0
1/ 2

Dividing by (2)3/V and multiplying by 2 due to two spins the density of states
per unit energy per unit volume is

 3
m m m 
2    1 / 2
1 2 3
1/ 2
E  E0
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Density of states for all the dimensions
2 m 
3
* 2
E
3 D 
 2 3
m*
2 D E  2  H E  En 
 n

m*
1D E  
1
2  2 2
 E  En  El 
n ,l

 0 D E    E  En  El  Ek 
n,l ,k

Note how the energy dependence

decreases by a power of ½ for each
order decrease in dimension

ELECT 871 10/27/03

 2DEG and band filling in a QW
General wavefunction for
electrons in a QW
 x, y, z     n z n x, y  En,Kz En,Kz
n
For the electron to behave like 2DEG:
1. The different n(z) should not mix E2

2. The difference between the energy

levels En1  En  kT
E1
Then the electron will be confined in
the z-direction but will be free to E0
m* 2m* 3m*
move in the x and y direction and the kz  2  2  2

wavefunctions and energies are given DOS

by 2 2
 kx  2 2
ky
 n,k x ,k y x, y, z    n z e
i ( kx xk y y )
En,k x ,k y  En  
2m 2m
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Rectangular well with infinite barriers
One-dimensional case: V0 = 
Practical example: Thin layer of lower bandgap material A embedded between thick
layers of higher bandgap material B
For infinitely deep well Schrodinger equation for
“B” “A” “B” electron wave functions reduces to:
 p 2 
LZ Total energy = KE + PE     V  E 
* 
 2m 
  2  d 2
Which gives,   *  2  V  E 
n=3

 2m  dz
with boundary conditions of (0) = (LZ) = 0, where z is the
n=3
growth direction,  is the electron wave function, and m* is
the electron effective mass
n=1 Solutions for the wave functions and energy levels are:
2
 n z    n 
2
n  A sin   En  *   , n  1, 2, 3...
 LZ  2m  LZ 
0 LZ z
A = constant

ELECT 871 10/27/03

 Single quantum well with finite barriers
“B” “A” “B”
In finite well the electron
wave function penetrates
into the barrier regions

Total number of bound states

 2m* V L2 
N 1  Int  A 0 
  2 2
 
 

In any (shallow/thin)
For the finite potential well (which is true in quantum well ALWAYS
exists at least one level
reality), the electron wave function penetrates (ground state)
the barrier and exponentially decays. The
V0 DEC or DEV
wavefunction inside the well is still
sinusoidal
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 A triangular quantum well

A triangular QW in
an rectangular QW
with built-in electric
field
For triangular quantum well OR
rectangular well with built-in electric
field, the energy will be given by
1 2
 2  3
 3eF  3  3
En   *    n    , n  0,1, 2 ...
 2m   2  4 

where F is the electric field

Note that the electron wave function penetrates in one side (finite
potential side) but not in the other side of the triangular QW
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Coupled QWs: Double well and superlattice
Wavefunctions are of the form Two quantum wells are coupled when

 
wave functions are overlapping
 nA  21 2  n1   n2 

 nS  21 2        
n
1
n
2

En  D n En  D n
EnA  EnS 
1  n 1  n For double quantum wells the
electron wave-functions
where
overlap and the energy states
 n   n1 n2 dz Overlap integral gets perturbed. Therefore
 symmetric and antisymmetric
D n   n1H n2 dz Resonance integral wavefunction energies split

H is the hamiltonian (see handout)
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Periodic ptentials:Superlattice
SL with N number of QWs
Formation of
minibands in
superlattice
structure

• For superlattice the N-degenerate

states at each energy level interact
and form minibands
• Superlattices can actually give rise
to oscillations similar to Bloch
oscillations
• Superlattices are for transporting
electrons and holes efficiently to
the active region
 2b
sin ka  coska  cosKa  , where -/a < K < /a, a = well width
2k
b = barrier width,   2m2 V0  E  ELECT 871 10/27/03

 Various band alignments for heterostructures

Type I alignment is the most common among material systems

Type II band alignment can be used for interband cascade lasers
due to deep quantum well
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Properties of the 2DEG
2DEG Mobility vs. density

Spacer layer
thickness vs.
2DEG
density and
mobility

dspacer depends on
intended application

• For AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures, the spacer layer

thickness is important for 2DEG mobility and density
• The 2DEG does not freeze out at very low temperature
unlike the 3D doping
• The 2DEG mobility does not decrease with decrease in
temperature unlike the 3D case
• The 2DEG mobility can increase with increase in
2DEG density due to increased screening unlike the
3D doping ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Scattering processes in AlGaN/GaN
heterostructures
• Acoustic phonon scattering at Scattering mechanisms for 2DEG in
lower temperature AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with doped
GaN channel
• Piezoelectric scattering
• Polar optical phonon at higher
temperature
• Background impurity
scattering
• Dislocation scattering
• Alloy scattering
• Interface roughness scattering

Mattheissen rule for total mobility:

1 1
 , where i refers to the mobility corresponding to different sources
 net i i
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Methods for reducing scattering
• Controllable scattering mechanisms
– Background impurity scattering: By growing the material
purer
– Alloy scattering: By putting a thin binary alloy (AlN) at the
interface
– Dislocation scattering: By growing on lattice and thermally
matched substrate
– Interface roughness scattering: By growing very smooth
interfacial layers
– Remote ionized impurity: usually not a problem unless the
structure is doped. Can be reduced by not doping the
structure or putting thicker spacer layer.
• Rest of the scattering processes are usually physics
limited
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Temperature dependence of v-F curve
3 3

Electron Velocity (107 cm/s)

GaAs
Electron Velocity (107 cm/s)

GaN 300 K 300 K

500 K
500 K
700 K 700 K
2 2

1 1

0 0
0 200 400 600 0 4 8 12 16 20
Electric Field (kV/cm) Electric Field (kV/cm)

• Usually the regions are separated into regions of constant and zero
mobility
• A velocity overshoot is expected for GaN similar to GaAs case, but
usually not seen due to high background doping
• At higher temperature, the degradation of v-F curve for GaN is
much smaller than GaAs
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Outline of the AlGaN/GaN HEMT
• Performance criteria for microwave transistors
• Formation of the 2DEG
• 2DEG properties
• Design rules: Materials and Fabrication
• AlGaN/GaN performances as per the criteria
outlined above
• Reliability issues in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs
• Possible remedies

ELECT 871 10/27/03

 Performance criteria for microwave transistors
• Output Power: Total microwave power available (W/mm)
• Gain: G = Pout/Pin, log G = Log Pout – Log Pin (usually measured
in dBm)
• Ft : Maximum frequency of oscillation or the frequency at which
the short circuit current gain is 1
• Fmax: The frequency at which the power gain is 1 for a perfectly
matched load
• Power added efficiency (P.A.E): (Pout – Pin)/Pdc, Pin = input
microwave power, Pdc = total dc power in at the gate and drain
terminals.
• Linearity: The measure of gain against input signal level. High
linearity means lower harmonic content in the output signal
• Noise Figure: SNRin/SNRout (usually expressed in dBm by taking
the log)
• Stability: long term and short term operational stability

ELECT 871 10/27/03

 AlGaN/GaN HEMTs: Formation of the 2DEG
Layer structure Schematic band diagram
20-30 nm Al0.3Ga0.7 N
B AlGaN GaN Ec
2DEG
DEc
GaN buffer(1-2 m) d
EF

comp
Nucleation layer (~ 20 nm)
+ve B

Sapphire/SiC substrate
2 DEG
surf
  B  0 
ns    2  B  EF ns   DEc 
e  de 
• The 2DEG is an explicit function of the surface barrier, AlGaN
thickness, and the bound positive charge at the interface
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Comparison with GaAs HEMT Physics
Schematic band diagram AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT
B AlGaN GaN
Ec
DEc
EF
d

comp AlGaAs
+ve
B donor
GaAs buffer
layer

2 DEG
surf
AlGaAs spacer

• No doping is required for the 2DEG to be present at the interface.

Where does the 2DEG come from?
• Higher sheet charge and higher conduction band discontinuity
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Design rules for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs:
Materials perspective
• Thickness of the barrier layer: affects 2DEG
concentration and vertical gate field (which controls gate
leakage current, VD, breakdown, and can also affect device
degradation)
• Al composition of the barrier layer: affects 2DEG
concentration and DEC, which confines the 2DEG
• Nucleation and buffer layer: affects dislocation density,
and surface morphology (both affect mobility, one by
charged line scattering and other by interface roughness
scattering) and parasitic conduction.
• Substrate for epitaxial growth: affects the heat
conductivity and ultimate output power performance as
well as defect density, and parasitics.
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 AlGaN/GaN HEMTs: where is the advantage?
The maximum microwave Drain
output power obtainable is current
Load line
VG = 0 V
Pout  I dss Vbd  Vk 
1 Ids
s
8
 I dss Vbias  Vk 
1 Operating point, Vbias
4
For class A operation the 0
biasing point is chosen 0 Vk Vbd
halfway between Vbd and Vk Drain voltage, Vd
VG = pinch
on the loadline off voltage

• Due to large breakdown voltage and large sheet carrier concentration

for nitrides, the maximum output power obtainable is much larger
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Transistor fabrication layout
Submicron Ni/Au Air-bridge to connect
4 isolated source pads
mushroom gate 3
defined by e-beam
Cl2 based ECR
1
Ti/Al/Ti/Au ohmic mesa isolation
contact annealed at 2
800˚C (0.3 to 0.6 Ω-mm)
SEM photo showing air-bridge
SEM image of a submicron mushroom gate over the gate metal (T-layout)

ELECT 871 10/27/03

 Design rules for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs:
Fabrication perspective
2 x 125 µm U-gate 2 x 75 µm T-gate
D D
S S
S S
G
G

• The gate footprint and the cross-sectional area and width controls the frequency
response
– Lg lower means fT goes up
– Cross-section and gate width control gate resistance (this is why mushroom gates are
used)
• The gate drain spacing as well as gate footprint determines the breakdown voltage
– Lg lower means VBR down
– Gate-drain spacing up means VBR up
• The geometry of the device also plays a role
– The U-geometry device has 10 – 15 % lower gm, Idss due to self heating
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Large periphery devices
Parallel fingers or fishbone layout for 12 x 125 µm devices:
Parallel fingers Fishbone

Air bridges
• Larger periphery devices used for higher actual output power NOT
power density (usually more than 1 mm gate finger width)
• The fabrication processes are complicated as this involves air-
bridging the source or the drain. Why?
• Large periphery design issues: electrical and thermal
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Design issues for large periphery devices
 Electrical issues:
• The voltage drop along the gate length causes lower PAE
• Phase difference at the gate fingers reduce overall PAE
• Finite Ron reduces PAE. This becomes severe in presence of
trapping as Ron increases
 Thermal issues:
• Device heating is a problem at higher output power, since power
wasted is also larger
• The maximum possible output power depends on the
conductivity of the substrates. SiC substrates are commonly
used. Thinned sapphire substrates have also been used.
• The number of gate fingers as well as the gate finger pitch
determine the maximum temperature rise in a device.
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 DC characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs
10.3100 m devices (~35% Al)

• The negative slope in the dc characteristics of sapphire is either

due to heating or trapping
• The dc characteristics are better for HEMTs fabricated on SiC
than on sapphire possibly because of reduced dislocation
density and increased thermal conductivity
• The difference becomes more severe with scaling
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Breakdown voltage of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Gate-drain Breakdown Voltage (V)

250
For nominally 1 µm
200 gate-drain spacing

150

Lg = 0.3 m 100

50

0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Gate Length (µm)

• The breakdown voltage depends on the gate drain spacing

and gate length. Reduction in either of the two results in
enhanced field near the gate and reduced VBR
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Small signal characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Since Ft is defined as the frequency

where current gain is 1, so it is given by
gm vsat Z g Z g Lg
Intrinsic device Ft  gm  C gc 
2Csg d d
• Device operating point is usually 1/3 Ft as a rule of thumb, so gate
length of 0.2 – 0.3 micron is chosen for 10 – 20 GHz operation
• An optimization of gate length is required to get proper breakdown
voltage and frequency response
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Power performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

• Very high power density of 11 – 12

W/mm is obtainable
• The PAE first increases and then starts
falling after reaching a peak
• Gain decreases for large input power
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Challenges for nitride HEMT technology
• Current slump or collapse (reduction in output power
w.r.t. that expected from dc IV characteristics)
– Short term reliability SiNx passivation? MOSHFETs ? Does
– Long term reliability not solve all problems
• Thermal management (mobility degrades due to channel
heating at high operating bias)
– High conductive substrate i.e. SiC (4.9 W/cm/K compared to
sapphire of 0.4 W/cm/K). Problem: Expensive
– GaN substrate (~2 W/cm/K): Problem: Not there yet
• Material quality
– Native substrate i.e. GaN: Problem: Not there yet
• Scaling and MMIC design: Though there are no physical
limitations, all the above problems reduce yield and
reliability. ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Problem of current slump in nitride HEMTs
• The microwave power obtained Drain and gate pulsing
at high bias is much lower than (low duty cycle used to avoid heating)
the theoretically predicted from Gate Drain
the dc IV characteristics. This is
called current slump or collapse
• The pulsed IV curves have
much lower magnitude of Id
than the static dc IV curves
• The Ron of the IV curves
increase significantly
• The pulsed IV curves are
obtained by keeping the drain
voltage constant and pulsing the
gate voltage from a point
beyond pinch-off (say –8 V) to
the desired value of gate voltage
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Surface state charging: Formation of virtual gate
• When the gate becomes
negative the electrons
tunnel from the gate
under high field
• The electrons accumulate
at the surface forming a
virtual gate
• When the gate now turns
more positive the virtual
gate does not allow the
drain current to rise
causing current slump
• The reduction goes away
under UV illumination as
the photo-generated holes
recombine with the
electrons
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 Effect of passivation
Pre and post passivation comparison
Individual pulses

• The samples were passivated by

depositing 200 nm SiNx at 300 ºC
• After passivation the pulsed IV curves
are very close to the dc IV
characteristics which means the
electrons are not accumulating at the
surface
ELECT 871 10/27/03
 AlGaN/GaN MOSHFET

• Advantages
- Gate leakage current reduction
- Possible reduction in current slump
• Disadvantages
- Quality of the insulator may not be good
and repeatable
- Parasitic capacitances become important
as the main gate capacitance reduces, so
the gain reduces in effect
ELECT 871 10/27/03