Open AccessMicrowave detection performance of In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As/GaAs 0.5 Sb 0.5 quantum‐well tunnel field‐effect transistors
Author(s) -
Li Wenjun,
Fay Patrick,
Yu Tao,
Hoyt Judy
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
electronics letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.375
H-Index - 146
ISSN - 1350-911X
DOI - 10.1049/el.2016.0328
Subject(s) - quantum tunnelling , microwave , optoelectronics , field effect transistor , materials science , tunnel field effect transistor , transistor , noise equivalent power , sensitivity (control systems) , tunnel junction , voltage , bandwidth (computing) , gallium arsenide , responsivity , electrical engineering , physics , photodetector , electronic engineering , telecommunications , engineering , quantum mechanics
The performance of In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As/GaAs 0.5 Sb 0.5 quantum‐well tunnel field‐effect transistors (TFETs) for microwave‐frequency detection is explored experimentally. The strong nonlinearity of the TFET transfer characteristic, which arises from a combination of band‐to‐band tunnelling between source and channel and gate modulation of the tunnel junction, can be utilised for high‐sensitivity microwave detection. Using an analytical model, it is shown that TFET detection current sensitivity is approximately proportional to the second‐order derivative of the transfer current‐voltage characteristic. Though unoptimised, the large‐area TFET detectors evaluated experimentally exhibit an unmatched voltage sensitivity of 112 kV/W, an impedance‐matched noise equivalent power of 7.0 pW/Hz 0.5 , and a bandwidth of 4 GHz. The microwave detection performance of TFETs can be enhanced by mitigating parasitic effects, improving the semiconductor/oxide interface quality, and scaling the gate area.