Common Emitter Current and Voltage Gain in III-Nitride Tunneling Hot Electron Transistors

Abstract

Common-emitter operation was demonstrated in an N-polar tunneling hot electron transistor. Under collector-emitter bias of 7 V, small signal current gain ~1.3, and voltage gain ~4 were simultaneously obtained for transistors with 27.5-nm base. This is the first report of a III-nitride hot electron transistor with small signal current gain and intrinsic voltage gain both greater than unity. The result shows such III-nitride vertical transistors are promising for the next generation of high-frequency amplifiers.