Monte Carlo simulation of AlGaAs/GaAs hot-electron transistors

Abstract

Monte Carlo simulation of AlGaAs/GaAs hot-electron transistors (HET) was carried out on the following model: electrons are injected by tunneling through the emitter barrier and are scattered by polar optical phonons, acoustic phonons, ionized impurities, intervalley transitions, and plasmons in the base, and by quantum mechanical reflection at the boundary between the base and the collector barrier. Intervalley scattering and plasmon scattering are shown to play essential roles in limiting the characteristics of the HET. The simulation predicts that the transfer ratio can be as high as 0.9 with a base width of 100 A at 77 K, and that the transit time is about 1 ps with a total device length of 2200 A at a base-emitter voltage and a collector-base voltage of 1.0 V. The simulated result of the transfer ratio is in good agreement with the experimental result, if plasmon scattering is taken into account.