Carrier dynamics study of lateral scaling and the limiting high-frequency performance of GaN-HEMTs

Riccardo Soligo, Diego Guerra, David K. Ferr, Stephen M. Goodnic, Marco Saraniti

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of access region scaling on the RF performance of millimeter-wave GaN HEMTs is investigated through full band Cellular Monte Carlo simulation. The nanoscale carrier dynamics under the gate controlled region is simulated in devices with different access region lengths in relation with their cutoff frequency. In particular, the cut-off frequency is shown to increase monotonically up to 860 GHz by symmetrically scaling the source to gate and gate to drain distance from 635 nm to 50 nm. The electron scattering rates have been studied showing that while polar phonon emission is the overall dominant scattering mechanism, the emission of acoustic phonons is greatly enhanced in shorter devices. By scaling the gate length and the access region at the same time, we find that the cut-off frequency increases further. Moreover, for vanishing access regions, we are able to calculate a maximum velocity, while a limit effective gate length has been obtained for the physical gate length approaching zero. Based on these limits, we calculate the transit time and find a limiting cut-off frequency of 1.49 THz for the GaN HEMT studied in this work.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationInternational Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices, SISPAD 2012 Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages233-236
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9780615717562
StatePublished - 2012
Event2012 International Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices, SISPAD 2012 - Denver, United States
Duration: Sep 5 2012Sep 7 2012

Publication series

NameInternational Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices, SISPAD

Conference

Conference2012 International Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices, SISPAD 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityDenver
Period9/5/129/7/12

Keywords

  • GaN
  • HEMT
  • High Frequency
  • Monte Carlo
  • Numerical Simulation
  • Scaling
  • Transit Velocity
  • Ultimate Frequency

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Modeling and Simulation

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