PROJECT REPORT

TITLE OF THE PROJECT STUDY OF MESFET AND HEMT

Supervisor Name-Mrs.

Maitreyi Roy Kanjilal

SHORT DESCRIPTION

MESFET:
MESFET is Metal semiconductor field effect transistor. In this device, the gate is created as a schottky diode i,e. metal contact and here the semi-insulating SiC(Silicon Carbide) or GaAs(Gallium Arsenide) substrate defines thickness of N-type electron channel.

Fig. MESFET STRUCTURE MESFET in SiC are made of n-type material because of the higher electron mobility and is fabricated using epitaxial layers on semi-insulating substrates to minimize parasitic capacitances. A MESFET has three metal-semiconductor contacts. The ohmic contacts are labelled source and drain, and the Schottky barrier is labelled gate. A MESFET is often described in terms of the gate dimensions.

The effective thickness of channel can be altered by reverse bias of schottky diode which is created by deposition of appropriate metal on the N-type GaAs layer.

4H-SiC PLANAR MESFET:

SiC (Silicon Carbide) is very good material due to its superior electrical, chemical and thermal properties and its high electric breakdown field, high saturated electron drift velocity and high thermal conductivity makes it suitable for high power microwave devices. 4H-SiC means four bi-layer stacking periodicity and hexagonal symmetry of Silicon Carbide, and it is one type of Polytype (i, e. variations of the same chemical compound that are identical in two dimensions and differ in the third). 4H-SiC MESFET has the capability of high voltage, high output impedance, easy matching and wide bandwidth through X-band (8.2-12.4 GHz). This is fabricated using ion-implantation without recess gate etching to eliminate potential damage to gate region and to lower contact resistance.

Fig. small-signal current for 4H-SiC

Fig. power gain for 4H-SiC MESFET

This device produced 15dB at 1 GHz. These results clearly demonstrate the advantages of 4H-SiC for high-power microwave application where its high-thermal conductivity, high-voltage and high-power density capability are very attractive. For applications in microwave power amplifiers, MESFETs must have large gate width because it causes decreased impedances that result in increased power gain. And with decreased gate length, the maximum oscillation frequency and cut-off frequency are increased.

4H-SiC MESFET WITH 42 GHz (MAXIMUM) FREQUENCY:

MESFET structures are fabricated on high resistivity SiC substrates of 4H-polytype. For 4H-SiC MESFET, due to its high electron mobility and lower ionization energy for donors, both the frequency and power performance can be obtained. These devices with 0.5 m gate length gives maximum frequency of 42 GHz and RF gain of 5.1 dB at 20 GHz while biased at a high operating voltage of 40 volts. These devices exhibit high gatedrain breakdown voltage of about 100 volts (at 0.5 mA/mm). High resistivity 4 H-SiC substrate provides good RF isolation and introduces negligible parasitic effects. The 4H-SiC MESFETs are suitable for high power microwave applications where its high-thermal conductivity, high voltage and high power density capabilities are desired.

INVESTIGATION OF SCALABILITY OF 4H-SiC MESFET FOR HIGH FREQUENCY APPLICATIONS:

A 4H-SiC MESFET with maximum operating frequency i,e. 42 GHz indicates that it is capable of producing excellent RF performance to X-band and potentially up to K-band. The high frequency capability of this device can also be determined by lateral scaling of the device i,e. gate length reduction. The scalability of SiC MESFET can be determined by using a thin highly doped p-buffer, block gate and -gate. For both block gate and -gate, the drain current increases with reducing gate length of SiC MESFET. For MESFETs with block gates, the channel-on resistance and pinch-off voltage decreases with decreasing gate length and transconductance is almost constant. Hence, short channeleffect is moderate here. For MESFETs with -gates, the decrease in transconductance and pinch-off voltages with respect to decreasing gate length indicates larger influence and short channel effect.

HIGH EFFICIENCY CLASS-E POWER AMPLIFIER USING SiC MESFET:

The efficiency improvement of a power amplifier decreases the power consumption and heat-sink requirement but it increases the output power because power amplifiers consume a majority of powers. Hence, switched mode amplifiers can be used to increase the efficiency of power amplifiers and class-E power amplifier is suitable for this purpose because of its simple topology and high efficiency capability in high frequency range. In general, the switched mode device in class-E amplifier uses Si-LD MOS (Silicon Laterally Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor) at frequency of 1 GHz. Hence, wide band-gap devices like SiC MESFET are used to supply high power and high efficiency to power amplifiers at high frequency region over 2 GHz because it provides high breakdown voltage, high electron saturation and high temperature robustness.

fig . Full Schematic of the class-E SiC MESFET power amplifier

EVALUATION OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SiC MESFETs FOR PHASED ARRAY RADAR APPLICATIONS:

Wide band-gap materials like Silicon-Carbide (SiC) and GalliumNitride (GaN) are used for high power microwave applications. Now SiC MESFETs are commercially available whose major application is in Phased Array Radar (PAR) because it requires the transmitter to develop high output power with little or no pulse drop. PAR applications include high power density which results in high voltage operation and leads to low current. Because of its high output impedance, the matching is very simple. Table. Material parameters of SiC and GaN compared to GaAs and Si

Few measurements of these devices are done with respect to current hysteresis, CW conditions, varying pulse lengths, varying duty cycles and varying Base-plate temperatures to determine whether these (SiC and GaN) are much better than previous generation devices or not. The results of those measurements are as follows:

The current hysteresis of these device exhibits less instability as compared to previous devices. Current hysteresis is the tendency for the Transistor to draw different drain current for the same gate voltage when the voltage is being increased against when it is being decreased.

When these devices are measured under CW conditions, they exhibit better output power compared to other devices.

SiC MESFET devices are measured for pulse lengths between 100s and 5ms with constant duty cycle of 30% which resulted in good amplitude and phase drop than others.

Fig. Power droop for a SiC MESFET device for a 5ms pulse length

Fig. Phase droop for a SiC MESFET device for a 5ms pulse length

When these devices are measured for duty cycles between 5% and 50% with constant pulse length of 500s, the increasing duty cycle reduces the bulk performance of the device. But the magnitude of amplitude and phase drop remains constant compared to others. This device is mounted on a temperature controlled hot plate. The output power and gain are measured for base-plate temperatures between room temperature and 100C, which are almost constant and same as others.

Fig. Power vs. baseplate temperature for SiC MESFET device

MOSFET ANALYTICAL CHARGE MODEL WITH QUANTUM EFFECTS USING A TRIANGULAR POTENTIAL APPROXIMATION:

When the MOS device is in depletion or weak inversion, then the triangular potential approximation is taken to determine the charge of that device. The investigation of quantum mechanical effects in MOS structure is done by using self consistent numerical and analytical techniques, which are used to solve SchrdingerPoisson equations. The triangular potential well approximation is used to get analytical solutions from Schrdinger equation for application in SPICE circuit simulations. But it is only valid for weak inversion region of MOS structure. The central assumption of triangular potential approximation is that the charge in electrostatic potential in direction perpendicular to transistor channel is constant.

DIRECT DETERMINATION OF BIAS-DEPENDANT SERIES PARASITIC ELEMENTS IN SiC MESFETs:

A simple series extrinsic element extraction scheme is employed in which the parasitic elements are determined by equating the measured Z-parameters with equivalent analytic expressions which are derived for a SiC MESFET equivalent circuit model incorporating the charging resistance. By this method, the bias dependant (both on gate and drain voltage) series drain and source resistance can be measured from active-bias S-parameters. The correlation between measured and modelled S-parameters is 20 GHz. Equivalent circuit parameter extraction procedure:Here, 500m x 0.6m SiC MESFETs are used for the extraction procedure. The gate resistance is extracted by a cold-FET method, where the parasitic elements are determined from Sparameter measurements at zero drain bias and hence it is kept constant for whole extraction process. The S-parameters of SiC MESFET biased at Vd=30V and Vgs=4.5V are measured and then converted into corresponding Yparameters. These Y-parameters are then converted into Zparameters and then by using analytic formulations and linear regression techniques, the gate, source & drain inductors are determined prior to bias- dependent source and drain resistance.

ELECTRICAL OPERATION OF 6H-SiC MESFET AT 500C FOR 500 HOURS IN AIR AMBIENT:

The reliable operating temperature envelop of integrated semiconductor devices has been expanded from 125C to above 200C, but for further benefits in aerospace combustion engine applications, the temperature may approach 600C also. Some wide band-gap semiconductors like SiC, diamond and GaN demonstrated short term durability when operated under high temperatures. Hence, to achieve stable and long term operation under high temperatures and that too without significant changes in electrical operating parameters, a high temperature n-channel 6H-SiC MESFET is fabricated. In fabrication process, multiple levels of high temperature metal and dielectric passivation is used to prevent contamination i, e. to prevent the oxygen to reach the electrically sensitive interfaces.

Fig. Schematic drawing of the structure of the MESFET. When 6H-SiC MESFET was operated at 500C for over 500 hours in an air ambient, then there is a 10% change in operational transistor parameters. The long term testing under 500C was possible due to a thick film metallization based ceramic package with conductive die attach material and Auwires, which electrically interconnect the device to metallization traces on Alumina substrate using thermo-sonic bonding. After the whole operation, it is observed that most of the relevant aspects of transistor structure (i,e. conductive channel charge, ohmic contacts, dielectric surface passivation, high temperature packaging etc.) are stable in these harsh conditions. Only degradation is that the leakage of gatechannel diode is increased with the increased anneal time. Hence, 6H-SiC MESFET is suitable for harsh combustion engine environments.

POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE OF SiC & GaN BASED METAL SEMICONDUCTOR FIELD EFFECT TRANSISITOR:

SiC & GaN are wide band gap semiconductors and therefore have a high breakdown field and low thermal generation rate. Also their good thermal conductivity and stability make them suitable material for high power, high temperature and harsh environment electronic devices. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to model steady state electron transport in SiC & GaN field effect transistors. This simulations provides a peak electron velocity of 3x10^5 m/s & 2.3x10^5 m/s for SiC & GaN materials respectively. Hence, this parameter makes these suitable for high frequency operation devices. MESFET is mostly used in construction of large scale integrated circuits because of its simplicity, comparative lack of dopant diffusion problems and high packaging densities. But SiC & GaN offers high electron mobility and hence prospect of high

frequency operating rates. Their direct band gap allows easier integration with optical devices.

TRANSITION OF SiC MESFET TECHNOLOGY FROM DISCRETE TRANSISTORS TO HIGH PERFORMANCE MMIC TECHNOLOGY:

SiC MESFETS offer significant advantages for the next generation commercial & military systems. Its increased power density & higher operating voltage enable higher performance, lighter weight and wide bandwidth systems. A Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit or MMIC is a type of integrated circuit (IC) device that operates at microwave frequencies (300 MHz to 300 GHz). These devices typically perform functions such as microwave mixing, power amplification, low noise amplification, and high frequency switching. MMICs were originally fabricated using gallium arsenide (GaAs), a III-V compound semiconductor. It has two fundamental advantages over Silicon (Si), the traditional material for IC realisation: device (transistor) speed and a semi-insulating

substrate. Both factors help with the design of high frequency circuit functions. The speed of Si-based technologies has gradually increased as transistor feature sizes have reduced and MMICs can now also be fabricated in Si -technology. The ability to fabricate complex circuitry, high power SiC MMICs allows another degree of freedom of systems engineers in development of next generation RADAR and communication systems.

High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT):

It is a form of FET (Field Effect Transistor) which is used to provide very high level of performance at Microwave frequencies (30-300 GHz). It offers low noise and high gain. A special PN junction is used in HEMT which is known as heterojunction, which consists of a junction that uses different materials in either side of it. The common material used are Aluminium Gallium Arsenide (AlGaAs) and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs). GaAs is used because it provides high level of basic electron mobility which is crucial to operation of this device. Since Si (Silicon) has much lower level of electron mobility, hence it is never used in HEMT.

Two main structures are generally used for HEMT:1. Self-Aligned Ion Implanted Structure

2. Recess-Gate Structure

Self-Aligned Ion Implanted Structure: Here the gate, drain & source are generally metallic contacts, although source and drain are sometimes made up of Germanium (Ge). The gate is generally made up of Titanium (Ti) and it forms a minute reverse biased junction similar to GaAs FET.

Recess-Gate Structure: Here another layer of n-type GaAs is set down to enable the drain and source contacts. The thickness of the gate is also very critical since the threshold voltage of FET is determined by this. The size of gate and hence the channel is very small. The gate is only 0.25 Microns or less, enabling the device to have high frequency performance.

OPERATION:

To allow conduction, semiconductors are doped with impurities which donate mobile electrons (or holes), which are slowed down because of collisions with impurities (dopant). HEMTs avoid this by using high mobility electrons generated using the hetero-junction of a highly doped wide-band gap ntype donor-supply layer (i,e. AlGaAs) and a non-doped narrow band gap channel layer with no dopant impurities (GaAs). The electrons generated in thin n-type AlGaAs layer drop completely into GaAs layer to form a depleted -AlGaAs layer, which is known as Two-Dimensional Electron Gas (2DEG) layer. Within this Two-Dimensional Electron Gas (2DEG) layer, the electrons are able to move freely because there are no other donor electrons or items with which the electrons will collide (because the GaAs layer is un-doped, and from which they cannot escape). Hence, these create a very thin layer of highly mobile conducting electrons with high concentration and thus giving the channel very low resistivity. This provides high electron mobility which is the main purpose of HEMT. A bias applied to the gate formed a Schottky barrier diode, which is used to modulate the number of electrons in the channel formed from 2DEG layer and these controls the conductivity of the device.

APPLICATION:

Because of their low noise performance, HEMTs are used in low noise-small signal amplifiers, power amplifiers, oscillators and mixers operating at high frequencies. It is also used in a wide range of RF design applications including cellular telecommunication, RADAR, radio astronomy and any application which requires combination of low noise and high frequency performance.

ETHICAL AND LEGAL CONSIDERATION

MAIN AIM

PROJECT PLAN

REFERENCE