Electrical Characterizations of InGaAs Nanowire-Top-Gate Field-Effect Transistors by Selective-Area Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy

Abstract

Single InGaAs nanowire-top-gate metal–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs) were fabricated and characterized. Silicon-doped n-InGaAs nanowires (with a typical diameter of 100 nm) were grown by catalyst-free selective-area metal–organic vapor-phase epitaxy (SA-MOVPE). The FETs of single nanowires on SiO2-coated Si substrates were fabricated by defining metal contacts at both ends of the nanowires and the metal top gate between contacts. According to the measurements of drain current–voltage and gate transfer characteristics, the top-gate MESFETs exhibited significant enhancements in device performance characteristics compared with FETs under back-gate operation; that is, a peak transconductance of 33 mS/mm and a current on–off ratio of 103 were obtained. A possibility for further improvements in FET characteristics was also considered.