Sub-50 nm Terahertz In0.8Ga0.2As Quantum-Well High-Electron-Mobility Transistors for 6G Applications

present a systematic study on the gate length (L-g) scaling behavior and the impact of the side-recess spacing (L-side) on dc and high-frequency characteristics of In0.8Ga0.2As quantum-well (QW) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with L(g )from 10 mu m to 20 nm, for the purpose of understanding the scaling limit of maximum oscillation frequency (f(max)) and thereby demon-strating terahertz devices. The fabricated In0.8Ga0.2As QW HEMTs with L-g = 20 nm and Lside = 150 nm exhibited values of drain-induced-barrier-lowering (DIBL) of 60 mV/V, current-gain cutoff frequency (f(T)) of 0.75 THz, and fmax of 1.1 THz, while the device with L-side = 50 nm showed DIBL of 110 mV/V and f(T)/f(max )of 0.72/0.53 THz. It was central to strictly control short-channel effects (SCEs) from the perspective of DIBL to maximize the improvement of f(max), as Lg was scaled down deeply. In an effort to under-stand the Lg scaling behavior of fmax, we carried out the small-signal modeling for both types of devices and found that the increase of the intrinsic output conductance (goi) played a critical role in determining f(max) in short-Lg HEMTs. On the contrary, the fabricated devices with Lside = 150 nm exhibited a tight control of SCEs at L-g of 20 nm. As a result,f(max) in those devices was boosted to 1.1 THz, and more importantly this high f(max) was maintained even as L-g was scaled down to 20 nm. The results in this work represent the best balance of f(T )and fmax in any transistor technology on any material system, displaying both f(T) and fmax in excess of 700 GHz simultaneously.

Automated summary

This study presents a systematic investigation on the gate length scaling behavior and the impact of side-recess spacing on the characteristics of In0.8Ga0.2As quantum-well high-electron-mobility transistors. It aims to understand the scaling limit of maximum oscillation frequency and demonstrate the potential of terahertz devices.