Two-dimensional Electron Gas Layer Research Articles

Quantum coupling and self-heating impacts on threshold voltages of GaN metal–insulator-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors

A transient heat conduction equation has been proposed to describe the cooling process of a hot two-dimensional electron gas layer in a GaN-based transistor. This equation serves as the basis for a physical analytical model that explains the impacts of hot electrons in the hot two-dimensional electron gas layer via quantum coupling on the threshold voltage of GaN-based transistors. The temperature of the two-dimensional electron gas layer decreases to ambient temperature as time increases, and the threshold voltage shifts caused by such a temperature will recover with time. The proposed model accurately reflects the observed recovery of threshold voltage over time in experiments. At the same time, it offers insight into how the gate voltage, the source-drain voltage, and the ambient temperature can shift the threshold voltage in these transistors. The simplicity and analytic nature of this proposed model not only provide a physical origin of the threshold voltage instability in GaN-based devices but also offer the possibility for improving device reliability by selecting appropriate device physical parameters.

Terahertz bow-tie diode based on asymmetrically shaped AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Asymmetrical shaping of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures containing a conductive layer of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) was used for the development of bow-tie (BT) diodes for room temperature terahertz (THz) detection. Considering operation of the THz BT diode in the unbiased mode as preferable for practical applications, we investigated the diodes with an obvious asymmetry of IV characteristics, which was found to be more pronounced with the decrease of an apex width, resulting in the sensitive THz detection. A nonuniform heating of carriers in a metalized leaf of the BT diode was attributed as the main mechanism that caused the rectification of THz waves. The responsivity and noise-equivalent power (NEP) at the fundamental antenna frequency of 150 GHz were up to 4 V/W and 2 nW/√Hz, respectively. Such high sensitivity of BT diodes allowed us to measure for the first time the response spectrum of the asymmetric BT antenna demonstrating fundamental and higher order resonances in good agreement with finite-difference time-domain simulation data in a broad spectrum range. The detailed investigation of the lowand high-frequency noise characteristics of AlGaN/GaN BT diodes revealed that only thermal noise needs to be considered for the unbiased operation, the value of which was relatively low due to a high density of 2DEG enabling low resistivity values. Moreover, we observed that the responsivity of BT diode scales with its resistance, revealing that tapering of the diode apex below a few microns could be ineffective in applications which require low NEP values.

Long-ranged surface plasmon polaritons and their coupling with upconversion emissions in indium-tin-oxide-coated erbium and iron codoped LiNbO3

Long-ranged surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and their coupling with upconversion emissions (UCEs) were studied in indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated erbium and iron codoped L i N b O 3 (Er,Fe:LN). In this work, ITO is coated on Er,Fe:LN grains to form a noble-metal-like modified ITO layer, namely, a two-dimensional electron gas layer. By meeting phase-matching conditions, SPPs with a definite wave vector can be excited most efficiently. By calculating the attenuated total reflection spectra of the sandwich structure of unmodified ITO/modified ITO layer/LN, the propagation length of SPP can reach as long as 2.0 cm due to the subnanometer ITO modified layer. Experimentally, the location of missing spectral lines in the diffraction pattern and a valley in the transmission spectra are consistent well with the calculations of the phase-matching condition, both serving as valid proofs for SPP excitation. In the ITO-coated Er,Fe:LN grains, a sharp dropping-down process was observed in the UCE’s dynamics, indicating high coupling efficiency from UCEs to SPPs. This work advances the fundamental understanding in electrostatic modification of transparent oxides into visible nonmetal plasmonic materials by simply neighboring to ferroelectric oxides and leads a way toward designing and implementing shortwave plasmonic devices, apart from conventionally used lossy metal constituents.

Double-Quantum-Well AlGaN/GaN Field Effect Transistors with Top and Back Gates: Electrical and Noise Characteristics.

AlGaN/GaN fin-shaped and large-area grating gate transistors with two layers of two-dimensional electron gas and a back gate were fabricated and studied experimentally. The back gate allowed reducing the subthreshold leakage current, improving the subthreshold slope and adjusting the threshold voltage. At a certain back gate voltage, transistors operated as normally-off devices. Grating gate transistors with a high gate area demonstrated little subthreshold leakage current, which could be further reduced by the back gate. The low frequency noise measurements indicated identical noise properties and the same trap density responsible for noise when the transistors were controlled by either top or back gates. This result was explained by the tunneling of electrons to the traps in AlGaN as the main noise mechanism. The trap density extracted from the noise measurements was similar or less than that reported in the majority of publications on regular AlGaN/GaN transistors.

Recessed AlGaN/GaN Schottky Barrier Diodes With TiN and NiN Dual Anodes

High-performance AlGaN/GaN lateral Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with recess structure and dual metal nitride anodes were demonstrated. With high work-function and nonrecess structure, a NiN anode enhances the breakdown voltage (BV), while a TiN anode reduces the turn-on voltage (V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ON</sub> ) due to its low work-function and contact to the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) layer directly on a recess structure. As the length of the NiN anode ( L <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">r</sub> ) on the nonrecess region decreases from 75 to 3 μm, V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ON</sub> is reduced from 0.56 to 0.30 V, while the reverse leakage current slightly increases from 3 ×10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-4</sup> to 2 ×10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-3</sup> A/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> at the bias of -10 V. The lateral AlGaN/GaN SBD with a L <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">r</sub> of 3 μm at a distance of cathode-anode ( L <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">AC</sub> ) of 20 μm achieves a high BV of 1.62 kV, an ultralow V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ON</sub> of 0.30 V and a small capacitance of 6.0 pF at zero bias with little degradation on ON-resistance, indicating superior potential application in high-frequency and high-power devices.

Phase-shifting electron holography for accurate measurement of potential distributions in organic and inorganic semiconductors.

Phase-shifting electron holography (PS-EH) is an interference transmission electron microscopy technique that accurately visualizes potential distributions in functional materials, such as semiconductors. In this paper, we briefly introduce the features of the PS-EH that overcome some of the issues facing the conventional EH based on Fourier transformation. Then, we present a high-precision PS-EH technique with multiple electron biprisms and a sample preparation technique using a cryo-focused-ion-beam, which are important techniques for the accurate phase measurement of semiconductors. We present several applications of PS-EH to demonstrate the potential in organic and inorganic semiconductors and then discuss the differences by comparing them with previous reports on the conventional EH. We show that in situ biasing PS-EH was able to observe not only electric potential distribution but also electric field and charge density at a GaAs p-n junction and clarify how local band structures, depletion layer widths and space charges changed depending on the biasing conditions. Moreover, the PS-EH clearly visualized the local potential distributions of two-dimensional electron gas layers formed at AlGaN/GaN interfaces with different Al compositions. We also report the results of our PS-EH application for organic electroluminescence multilayers and point out the significant potential changes in the layers. The proposed PS-EH enables more precise phase measurement compared to the conventional EH, and our findings introduced in this paper will contribute to the future research and development of high-performance semiconductor materials and devices.

GaN 2DEG Varactor-Based Impulse Suppression Module for Protection Against Malicious Electromagnetic Interference

A GaN-based metal–semiconductor–metal varactor with a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) layer is proposed and fabricated. The capacitance variation of this fabricated varactor biased at different external voltages is studied and measured, and the frequency-dependent capacitance and resistance of the varactor are simulated by a corresponding empirical formula. A high-frequency protective filter is further constructed and placed under a large pulsed-current injection in a malicious electromagnetic interference immunity test. The results show that the proposed GaN-based module can reduce the large pulsed current to an acceptably small level. Thus, the GaN-based 2DEG varactor is an attractive candidate for applications designed to protect the upcoming 5G high-frequency system from risks such as electrostatic discharge, lightning, and electromagnetic pulses.

Second-Order Topological Superconductivity in π-Junction Rashba Layers.

We consider a Josephson junction bilayer consisting of two tunnel-coupled two-dimensional electron gas layers with Rashba spin-orbit interaction, proximitized by a top and bottom s-wave superconductor with phase difference ϕ close to π. We show that, in the presence of a finite weak in-plane Zeeman field, the bilayer can be driven into a second order topological superconducting phase, hosting two Majorana corner states (MCSs). If ϕ=π, in a rectangular geometry, these zero-energy bound states are located at two opposite corners determined by the direction of the Zeeman field. If the phase difference ϕ deviates from π by a critical value, one of the two MCSs gets relocated to an adjacent corner. As the phase difference ϕ increases further, the system becomes trivially gapped. The obtained MCSs are robust against static and magnetic disorder. We propose two setups that could realize such a model: one is based on controlling ϕ by magnetic flux, the other involves an additional layer of randomly oriented magnetic impurities responsible for the phase shift of π in the proximity-induced superconducting pairing.

Electric Potential Distributions of Two-Dimensional Electron Gas Layers at GaN/AlGaN Nano-Interfaces Observed by High Precision Phase-Shifting Electron Holography

Electric Potential Distributions of Two-Dimensional Electron Gas Layers at GaN/AlGaN Nano-Interfaces Observed by High Precision Phase-Shifting Electron Holography

Interlayer interactions and the Fermi energy of bilayer composite-fermion metals

When two two-dimensional electron gas layers, each at Landau-level filling factor $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$, are sufficiently close together, a condensate of interlayer excitons emerges at low temperature. Although the excitonic phase is qualitatively well understood, the incoherent phase just above the critical layer separation is not. Using a combination of tunneling spectroscopy and conventional transport, we explore the incoherent phase in samples both near the phase boundary and further from it. In the more closely spaced bilayers we find the electronic spectral functions narrower and the Fermi energy of the $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ composite fermion metal smaller than in the more widely separated bilayers. We attribute these effects to a softening of the intralayer Coulomb interaction due to interlayer screening.

Rashba sandwiches with topological superconducting phases

We introduce a versatile heterostructure harboring various topological superconducting phases characterized by the presence of helical, chiral, or unidirectional edge states. Changing parameters, such as an effective Zeeman field or chemical potential, one can tune between these three topological phases in the same setup. Our model relies only on conventional non-topological ingredients. The bilayer setup consists of an s-wave superconductor sandwiched between two two-dimensional electron gas layers with strong Rashba spin-orbit interaction. The interplay between two different pairing mechanisms, proximity induced direct and crossed Andreev superconducting pairings, gives rise to multiple topological phases. In particular, helical edge states occur if crossed Andreev superconducting pairing is dominant. In addition, an in-plane Zeeman field leads to a 2D gapless topological phase with unidirectional edge states, which were previously predicted to exist only in non-centrosymmetric superconductors. If the Zeeman field is tilted out of the plane, the system is in a topological phase hosting chiral edge states.

Injection of Spin-Polarized Electrons into a AlGaN/GaN Device from an Electrochemical Cell: Evidence for an Extremely Long Spin Lifetime

Spin-polarized electrons are injected from an electrochemical cell through a chiral self-assembled organic monolayer into a AlGaN/GaN device in which a shallow two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) layer is formed. The injection is monitored by a microwave signal that indicates a coherent spin lifetime that exceeds 10 ms at room temperature. The signal was found to be magnetic field independent; however, it depends on the current of the injected electrons, on the length of the chiral molecules, and on the existence of 2DEG.

High-performance solar-blind Al0.6Ga0.4N/Al0.5Ga0.5N MSM type photodetector

An Al0.6Ga0.4N/Al0.5Ga0.5N metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) deep-ultraviolet (DUV) photodetector was developed. It possesses both high photosensitivity and high rejection ratios in comparison to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). The photodetector was designed to have a two-dimensional electron gas layer at the Al0.6Ga0.4N/Al0.5Ga0.5N hetero-interface, which plays an important role in increasing the photosensitivity. Additionally, for reducing the dark current, a V/Al/Mo/Au electrode was employed as a Schottky electrode with an appropriate barrier height. Upon irradiation with 10 μW/cm2, an extremely low dark current (10−11 A) and high photocurrent (5 × 10−5 A) were achieved at a bias voltage of 5 V. The photodetector was true solar-blind with a cut-off wavelength of 280 nm. A high photosensitivity of 106 A/W and a rejection ratio of 106 were realized under the irradiation of 10 nW/cm2 DUV photons. The present results revealed that the AlGaN/AlGaN MSM DUV photodetector is one of the most suitable candidates for an all solid-state photodetector with a performance superior to PMTs.

Low-temperature performance of semiconducting asymmetric nanochannel diodes

We present our studies on fabrication and electrical and optical characterization of semiconducting asymmetric nanochannel diodes (ANCDs), focusing mainly on the temperature dependence of their current–voltage (I–V) characteristics in the range from room temperature to 77 K. These measurements enable us to elucidate the electron transport mechanism in a nanochannel. Our test devices were fabricated in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure with a two-dimensional electron gas layer and were patterned using electron-beam lithography. The 250-nm-wide, 70-nm-deep trenches that define the nanochannel were ion-beam etched using the photoresist as a mask, so the resulting nanostructure consisted of approximately ten ANCDs connected in parallel with 2-µm-long, 230-nm-wide nanochannels. The ANCD I–V curves collected in the dark exhibited nonlinear, diode-type behavior at all tested temperatures. Their forward-biased regions were fitted to the classical diode equation with a thermionic barrier, with the ideality factor n and the saturation current as fitting parameters. We have obtained very good fits, but with n as large as ∼50, suggesting that there must be a substantial voltage drop likely at the contact pads. The thermionic energy barrier was determined to be 56 meV at high temperatures. We have also observed that under optical illumination our ANCDs at low temperatures exhibited, at low illumination powers, a very strong photoresponse enhancement that exceeded that at room temperature. At 78 K, the responsivity was of the order of 104 A/W at the nW-level light excitation.

From coupled Rashba electron- and hole-gas layers to three-dimensional topological insulators

We introduce a system of stacked two-dimensional electron and hole gas layers with Rashba spin orbit interaction and show that the tunnel coupling between the layers induces a strong three- dimensional (3D) topological insulator phase. At each of the two-dimensional bulk boundaries we find the spectrum consisting of a single anistropic Dirac cone, which we show by analytical and numerical calculations. Our setup has a unit-cell consisting of four tunnel coupled Rashba layers and presents a synthetic strong 3D topological insulator and is distinguished by its rather high experimental feasibility.

Effect of Phonon Drag on the Thermopower in a Parabolic Quantum Well

The theory of phonon-drag thermopower resulting from a temperature gradient in the plane of a two-dimensional electron gas layer in a parabolic quantum well is developed. The interaction mechanisms between electrons and acoustic phonons are considered, taking into account potential screening of the interaction. It is found that the effect of electron drag by phonons makes a significant contribution to the thermopower of the two-dimensional electron gas. It is shown that the consideration of screening has a significant effect on the drag thermopower. For the temperature dependence of the thermopower in a parabolic GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well in the temperature range of 1–10 K, good agreement between the obtained theoretical results and experiments is shown.

Ballistic deflection transistors and their application to THz amplification

We present implementation of recently proposed ballistic deflection transistors (BDTs) as THz amplifiers. BDT is a planar device based on InGaAs/InAlAs/InP heterostructure with quasi-ballistic transport obtained in the two-dimensional electron gas layer that facilitates ultra-short transit time and high performance needed for THz-range circuitry. The BDT performance is optimized through its structural modification and the use of high-k dielectrics. Our time-domain, electrical transient measurements demonstrate sub-THz switching performance of a BDT with a ∼1-μm-wide channel. Independently, circuit simulations using experimental parameters of BDTs with a channel width of 430 nm and with the BDTs themselves connected as a multi-stage travelling-wave amplifier, designed for 6-dB gain, predict a 2.7- THz bandwidth with a gain flatness of ±0.3 dB.

Ultrahigh responsivity of optically active, semiconducting asymmetric nano-channel diodes

We present our research on the fabrication and optical characterization of novel semiconducting asymmetric nano-channel diodes (ANCDs). We focus on optical properties of ANCDs and demonstrate that they can be operated as very sensitive, single-photon-level, visible-light photodetectors. Our test devices consisted of 1.2-μm-long, ∼200- to 300-nm-wide channels that were etched in an InGaAs/InAlAs quantum-well hetero structure with a twodimensional electron gas layer. The ANCD I-V curves were collected by measuring the transport current both in the dark and under 800-nm-wavelength, continuous-wave-light laser illumination. In all of our devices, the impact of the light illumination was very clear, and there was a substantial photocurrent, even for incident optical power as low as 1 nW. The magnitude of the optical responsivity in ANCDs with the conducting nano-channel increased linearly with a decrease in optical power over many orders of magnitude, reaching a value of almost 10,000 A/W at 1-nW excitation.

Surface Dependence of pH Sensor on AlGaN/GaN Heterostructure

Glass electrodes are commonly used for pH measurements. The miniaturization, stability and sensitivity of the pH sensor have been improved by introducing Si ISFETs (ion-sensitive field-effect transistors) [1]. However, Si ISFETs are still limited in practical applications especially in high-temperature operation due to the material limitations of silicon and the sensor structure itself. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a good candidate for developing high-speed, high-sensitive and high-temperature pH sensor because of its wide band-gap, chemical stability, low toxicity, and superior conductivity owing to the high saturation velocity and high sheet carrier concentration of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) layer in a AlGaN/GaN heterostructure [2-4]. In this work, GaN-based pH sensors were developed and the surface dependence was evaluated by using different surface layers on the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure.The AlGaN/GaN heterostructure used in this experiment was grown on a (0001) sapphire substrate, which consists of a buffer layer, followed by an undoped GaN layer and an undoped AlGaN barrier layer with thickness of around 12-24 nm. To evaluate the surface dependence, the AlGaN barrier layers were designed to have different aluminum mole fraction of 22%, 24%, 25%, and 35%, respectively. Furthermore, some samples are with thin cap layers of i-GaN, n-GaN and p-GaN, respectively. To fabricate the pH sensor, first, isolation region with depth of 600 nm was formed by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) dry etching system. Ohmic contact for drain and source was then formed using Ti/Al/Ti/Au (50/200/40/40 nm) multilayer followed by annealing process with temperature of 850°C and period of 1 minute in N2 ambient. After dicing step, the chips were mounted on a Teflon substrate by covering all the conducting area with silicone resin to avoid contact with the measurement solutions. The sensing area is an open-gate structure with length of about 600 µm and width of 200-800 µm.A semiconductor parameter analyzer was used to characterize the current-voltage characteristics of the sensor by applying a drain voltage. A gate bias was applied to the solution via a platinum electrode or a standard Ag/AgCl reference electrode. A reference electrode was also used to monitor the voltage in the liquid. Three kinds of buffer solutions were used for measurement, which were phthalate, phosphate and tetraborate pH standard solution.The sensors showed good pinch-off characteristics in the three solutions for all the samples with different surface. The drain current decreased and the threshold voltage had a positive shift with the pH value increasing. The estimated average pH sensitivities (ΔV/pH) were 47.2, 49.5, and 51.8 mV/pH for the samples with cap layer of p-GaN, i-GaN and n-GaN, respectively. While for the samples with aluminum mole fraction of 22%, 24%, 25%, and 35%, the estimated average pH sensitivities were 52.2, 53.5, 54.1, and 55.2 mV/pH, respectively. It demonstrates that the sensitivity of the AlGaN/GaN pH sensor depends on the aluminum mole fraction and increases with the aluminum mole fraction increasing.[1] P. Bergveld, Sensors & Actuators B 88 (2003).[2] G. Steinhoff, Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 177 (2003).[3] T. Kokawa et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 24,1972 (2006).[4] B. S. Kang, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 91, 012110 (2007).

Global Modeling of Active Terahertz Plasmonic Devices

In this study, a full wave numerical technique is employed to characterize the propagation properties of 2-D plasmons along two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) layers of biased hetero-structures at terahertz frequencies. This method is based on a coupled solution of Maxwell and hydrodynamic transport equations. In this manner, a complete description of carrier-wave interactions inside the 2DEG layer is obtained. Particularly, this simulator is employed to investigate the 2-D plasmon variations initiated by the application of an external bias along the hetero-structure. Substantial changes in the plasmon characteristics such as wavelength and decay length are reported. It is also revealed that two symmetrical plasmonic modes along the unbiased 2DEG layer split into new asymmetrical ones after applying the bias voltage. The simulation has been performed in different structures to examine the effects of various electron densities and the presence of periodic metallic gratings on the plasmon properties. Moreover, the 2-D plasmon reflections from boundaries terminated by ohmic contacts are separately studied. This research demonstrates the potentials of the 2-D conductors in the design of novel active terahertz plasmonic devices as modulators and amplifiers while proposing a new approach for their modeling. The results of this simulation are verified independently with an analytical model.