Short channel effects on gallium nitride/gallium oxide nanowire transistors

Gallium nitride/gallium oxide GaN/Ga2O3 nanowire metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors are shown to operate at an average electron velocity of similar to 1.24 x 10(7) cm/s and threshold-voltage roll-off of -0.2 V as the transistor gate length L-g reduced from 500 to 50 nm. Improvement of saturation current to 120 mu A and unity current/power-gain cut-off frequency to 150/180 GHz is observed on L-g = 50 nm devices. Our study reveals the advantages of using (i) polarization-induced positive charges and high-k dielectric at the {1 (1) over bar0 (1) over bar }GaN/{002}Ga2O3 interface to provide carrier confinement and to shield the drain field, and (ii) polarization-induced negative charges at the (0001)GaN/sapphire interface to form a back-barrier to suppress leakage and improve the short-channel transport properties. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4764554]