Light Emission and Surface States Annealing on GaAs Metal Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor

Abstract

The annealing mechanism of surface states in the gallium arsenide metal semiconductor field-effect transistor (GaAs MESFET) is investigated by measuring the light-emission characteristics and excess gate currents generated by hot-carriers. Nonuniform light emission is observed when the Schottky junction is reverse biased, and the nonuniformity is increased with temperature. On the other hand, uniform and strong emission is observed under RF operation even when the device is biased with a deep pinch-off condition. The reverse and forward Schottky current caused by RF swing may not be a main emission mechanism under RF operation. Light emissions due to impact ionization and thermionic field emission are observed separately. The light intensity of the thermionic field emission has a weak temperature coefficient, while that of the impact ionization has a strong negative temperature coefficient. The decreasing rate of the surface states depends on the intensity and the distribution of the light emission during the operation.

Analysis of electroluminescence spectra of silicon and gallium arsenide p–n junctions in avalanche breakdown

“…[1][2][3] Highly energetic carriers are responsible for the on-state device breakdown which limits the microwave power of high electron mobility transistors ͑HEMTs͒ [4][5][6] and reduces metal-SC field effect transistor ͑MESFET͒ performance. 7,8 Therefore understanding of carrier luminescence mechanisms is informative for both analysis of device degradation 9,10 and development of the design of power SC components.…”