High Performance 50 nm InAlAs/In0.75GaAs Metamorphic High Electron Mobility Transistors with Si3N4 Passivation on Thin InGaAs Layer

Abstract

We fabricated 50 nm InAlAs/InGaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with a very thin barrier. Through the reduction of the gate–channel distance (dGC) in the epitaxial structure, a channel aspect ratio (ARC) of over three was achieved when Lg was 50 nm. We inserted a thin InGaAs layer as a protective layer, and tested various gate structures to reduce surface problems induced by barrier shrinkage and to optimize the device characteristics. Through the optimization of the gate structure with the thin InGaAs layer, the fabricated 50 nm metamorphic HEMT exhibited high DC and RF characteristics, Gm of 1.5 S/mm, and fT of 490 GHz.