High Electron

Mobility Transistors
(HEMT)
BY: AARON BUEHLER
&
JASON VANDERLINDE

Outline
Brief History
What are they?
How they Work
Different Types
Band Structure and Diagrams
Applications
Key Points
References

Brief History
Developed by Takashi Mimura and colleagues at Fujitsu in
Japan in 1979
Faced several issues along the way
Early Applications:
Low noise amplifiers
Installed in radio telescope
Other space and military applications
Commercialization began in 1987 for satellite broadcasting
receivers
Commercial production took off in the 90s

What are they?

Referred to as heterojunction field-effect transistor
(FET)
Abrupt discontinuities
Two layers of different semiconductor with two different
band gap energies
Separating majority carriers and ionized impurities
minimizes the degradation in mobility and peak
velocity
The 2-D electron gas = less electron collisions = less
noise

Different Types
Material: AlGaAs-GaAs
Pseudomorphic HEMT (pHEMT)
Metamorphic HEMT (mHEMT)
Indium Phosphide (InP)
Galium Nitride (GaN)

HEMT structure

pHEMT
GaAs pHEMT
< .5 m gate length
Low noise: 1dB at 12GHz
High gain: 10 dB at 12GHz
Range up to 26GHz
Thin layer so the crystal
lattice stretches to fit the
other material.
Larger bandgap differences =
better performance

mHEMT
.15 m gate length
Low noise
High gain
Range up to 100GHz
Large lattice mismatch
between the channel and
substrate is accommodated
by formation of dislocations
within a metamorphic buffer.

Band Structure

AlGaAs-GaAs HEMT band

diagrams

InP HEMT

Cross section using a scanning

electron micrograph

GaN HEMT
Based on GaN/AlGaN
heterojunctions
Uses a Sapphire (Al3O2)/Silicon
Carbonide(SiC) substrate
because of the wide energy
gap of 3.4 eV and 3.3 eV
Applicable to high power
supply voltages because of
the wide energy gaps
Can withstand high operating
temperatures

Applications
Originally for high speed applications
High power/ high temperature microwave applications
Power amplifiers
Oscillators
Cell Phones
Radar
Most MMICs radio frequency applications

Key Points
Its two main features are low noise and high frequency capability
A heterojunction is two layers different semiconductors with
different band gap energies
The 2-D electron gas is essential to the low noise feature
AlGaAs and GaAs are the most common materials for
heterojunction
Used in MMICs and radio frequency applications for high
performance

Sources
"GaAs Pseudomorphic HEMT Transistor."Mimix Broadband, Inc. N.p., 19 July
2008. Web. 30 Apr.
2013.
<http://www.richardsonrfpd.com/resources/RellDocuments/SYS_4/CF00303.pdf>.
Grunenputt, Erik. "Pseudomorphic and Metamorphic HEMT-technologies for
Industrial W-band
Low-noise and Power Applications.Youscribe. N.p.,
Dec. 2009. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.youscribe.com/catalogue/rapports-ettheses/savoirs/pseudomorphic-and- metamorphic-hemt-technologies-forindustrial-w-band-1426512>.
Poole, Ian. "HEMT, High Electron Mobility Transistor."Radio-Electronics.com.
Adrio Communications, June 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. <http://www.radioelectronics.com/info/data/semicond/fet-field-effect-transistor/hemt-phemttransistor.php>.

Sources continued
"0.15-um LN MHEMT 3MI."TriQuint.com. N.p., 29 Nov. 2007. Web.
<http://www.triquint.com/prodserv/foundry/docs/0.15.LN.mHEMT.3MI.pdf>.
Gran, Andersson, ed. "High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMT)." Laboratory for
Millimeter-Wave
Electronics. ETH Zurich, 2 Mar 2010. Web. 30 Apr 2013.
<http://www.mwe.ee.ethz.ch/en/aboutmwe-group/research/vision-and-aim/high-electron-mobility-transistorshemt.html>.
Neamen, Donald. Semiconductor Physics and Devices Basic Principles. 4th ed. New
York: McGraw-Hill,
2012. 602-9. Print.
Mimura, Takashi. "The Early History of the High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT)."
Early History of
the High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT). 50.3 (2002): 780-82. Web. 30 Apr.
2013. <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2048/stamp/stamp.jsp?
tp=&arnumber=98996 1&tag=1>.