course code: ee4209 md. nur kutubul alam department of eee kuet high electron mobility transistor...

SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES &

TECHNOLOGY

Course code: EE4209

Md. Nur Kutubul AlamDepartment of EEEKUET

High Electron Mobility Transistor(HEMT)

Types of HFET/HEMT

In terms of doping, HEMTs are of two types-

1. Modulation doped: Whole wide band gap material is doped

2. Delta-doped: Only a portion of wide band gap material is doped

Modulation doped FET

Spacer layer

Two dimensional electron Gas (2DEG):Here electrons are not allowed to move along ‘z’, but they obviously can move along ‘x’ or ‘y’ direction! The two dimensional movement on “x-y” plane, which is attached at the interface of two materials is very much interesting. This type of electrons are called “Two Dimensional Electron Gas” or “2DEG”.

Effect of Gate bias (MODFET)

Delta-doped FET

Difference between MODFET and Delta-doped FET

How to obtain band diagram?

Band diagram means the potential energy of “electron” in conduction band.

Electrostatic potential at some position is defined as- “Energy required to bring +1C charge at that position.”

That means, if electrostatic potential at some position is V volt, energy required to bring +1C charge at that position will be V jule. Or, energy required to bring +Q charge at that position will be QV jule. Or, energy required to bring -q charge at that position will be -qV jule.

If, “-q” is the charge of an electron, then potential energy for an electron =“-qV” Volt, or equivalently “-V” electron-volt.

So, conduction band = - electrostatic potential in “electron-volt” unit.

How to obtain band diagram?

Electrostatic potential is given by Poisson’s equation. If “V” is the electrostatic potential, then the Poisson’s equation is-

And conduction band edge potential (By not considering any band offset)-

Electric field “E” is given by negative of the gradient of the electrostatic potential.

Or,

Or,

How to obtain band diagram?

Therefore, we need the following equations-

Steps:1. Integrate the charge density to obtain the electric field.2. Integrate the electric field to obtain the “Conduction band”.

Conduction band of HEMT: (Calculation)

Conduction band of HEMT: (Step 1)

Step 1: Integrate the charge density to obtain the “Electric field”

Conduction band of HEMT: (Step 2)

Step 2: Integrate the “Electric field”, to get the conduction band. But, here we need to add the band offsets at every junctions.

At z= - d, we need to use the boundary condition. At that boundary, band edge potential

Conduction band of HEMT: (Step 2)

Step 2: Integrate the “Electric field”, to get the conduction band. But, here we need to add the band offsets at every junctions.

Integral of Negative field leads to decrease in

Integral of Positive field leads to Increase in

At the interface of two material, we add the band offset

Finally, Positive field increases the

Charge control model

Charge at theChannel (2DEG),ns = CVG

Calculation of ns

The band diagram at the interface of wide band gap and narrow band gap material looks like a triangle. Therefore, 2DEG inside this triangular quantum well is confined and can not move along the “z” direction.

Any confinement discretize the allowed energy of electron. Therefore, z-confinement allows enegy E0, E1 … Ei. Each discrete energy can accommodate two electron with opposite spin.

Calculation of ns

Along x, and y direction, there is no confinement. Therefore in (x,y) plane, energy of electron possess an parabolic relation with the wave vector “k(x,y)”. When energy is not discrete, we use “Density of states” or “DOS” to calculate the carrier concentration.

Number of electron

Therefore, in case of 2DEG, for each eigen level (produced by z confinement),

Calculation of ns

Here notice the limit of integral! I did not calculate the limit, just let it to be *

Again limit changes!

=

Calculation of ns

=

=

=

=

Thickness of 2DEG

Although E0 is not at the bottom of the conduction band, we are assuming so for the sake of simplicity. Then, we can say,

Whenever we need to relate energy with number of particle/charge concentration, we use statistical mechanics. In this case, we need the relation derived from Fermi Dirac statistics.

Thickness of 2DEGFrom Fermi Dirac statistics, we got-

Thickness of 2DEGNow, from Fermi Dirac statistics-

From Electrostatistics, i,e. Poisson’s Equation-

2DEG as a function of Gate bias

E

eV1

Ec

eV-di

eV2

2DEG as a function of Gate bias

E

eV1

Ec

eV-di

eV2

2DEG as a function of Gate bias

E

eV1

Ec

eV-di

eV2

2DEG as a function of Gate bias

E

eV1

Ec

eV-di

eV2

Charge control model (Again)

Finally

This is exactly the definition of charge control model.

Pinch-off voltage

Definition:The value of gate voltage at which charge in the channel is “zero”.

Put nS(VG)=0 and find the VG

…………………………………………………

Modulation Efficiency:

From the definition of charge control model:

But it happens only in ideal case. At low temperature, it might not be true.

Modulation Efficiency:

Polar material & polarizationTwo types of polarization Spontaneous Polarization Piezoelectric Polarization

Spontaneous Polarization

Each unit cell of GaN (or other polar material) can be thought as a charged capacitor.

Since, there is always a voltage between two plates of a charged capacitor, GaN unit cell can also be thought as a voltage source.

Spontaneous Polarization

Now, what happens if we grow more and more atomic layer of GaN on a substrate epitaxially?

Only one unit cell

Two unit cell

One more unit cell

Thicker the epilayer, greater the charge separation & higher the internal/built-in voltage…..

Spontaneous Polarization

Now, what happens if we grow more and more atomic layer of GaN on a substrate epitaxially?

No current flows in the growth process. Therefore, Fermi level must be flat.

Spontaneous Polarization

Now, what happens if we grow more and more atomic layer of GaN on a substrate epitaxially?

No current flows in the growth process. Therefore, Fermi level must be flat.

In respond to built in electric field, or internal voltage, both conduction band and valence band bends.

Spontaneous Polarization

Now, what happens if we grow more and more atomic layer of GaN on a substrate epitaxially?

No current flows in the growth process. Therefore, Fermi level must be flat.

In respond to built in electric field, or internal voltage, both conduction band and valence band bends.

Spontaneous Polarization

Now, what happens if we grow more and more atomic layer of GaN on a substrate epitaxially?

No current flows in the growth process. Therefore, Fermi level must be flat.

More voltage, more bending in the bands.

Spontaneous Polarization

Now, what happens if we grow more and more atomic layer of GaN on a substrate epitaxially?

No current flows in the growth process. Therefore, Fermi level must be flat.

At some critical thickness, valence band will touch (or tend to go above) Fermi level. It creates a hole

But, hole actually means an electron liberated from that position.

Spontaneous Polarization

Now, what happens if we grow more and more atomic layer of GaN on a substrate epitaxially?

No current flows in the growth process. Therefore, Fermi level must be flat.

At some critical thickness, valence band will touch (or tend to go above) Fermi level. It creates a hole

But, hole actually means an electron liberated from that position.

This thickness of epilayer is called critical thickness

Spontaneous Polarization

Above critical thickness, we get polarization charge at the substrate-epilayer interface.

No current flows in the growth process. Therefore, Fermi level must be flat.

At some critical thickness, valence band will touch (or tend to go above) Fermi level. It creates a hole

Spontaneous Polarization

Now, lets calculate the value of critical thickness.

No current flows in the growth process. Therefore, Fermi level must be flat.

In the figure, total band bending is almost equal to the band gap.

And, band bending = e*applied voltage…..

Total voltage across epilayer,

Voltage at critical thickness,