Current gain above 10 in sub-10 nm base III-Nitride tunneling hot electron transistors with GaN/AlN emitter

Abstract

We report on a tunneling hot electron transistor amplifier with common-emitter current gain greater than 10 at a collector current density in excess of 40 kA/cm2. The use of a wide-bandgap GaN/AlN (111 nm/2.5 nm) emitter was found to greatly improve injection efficiency of the emitter and reduce cold electron leakage. With an ultra-thin (8 nm) base, 93% of the injected hot electrons were collected, enabling a common-emitter current gain up to 14.5. This work improves understanding of the quasi-ballistic hot electron transport and may impact the development of high speed devices based on unipolar hot electron transport.