HEMT with nonalloyed ohmic contacts using n⁺-InGaAs cap layer

Abstract

We have investigated nonalloyed ohmic contacts on HEMT's using a highly conductive n <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">+</sup> -InGaAs layer. The minimum specific contact resistance obtained was 4.8 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-7</sup> Ω.cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , and the IV characteristics were equal to or better than those of conventional HEMT's with alloyed ohmic contacts. The maximum transconductances of a nonalloyed ohmic HEMT were 240 mS/mm at 300K and 340 mS/mm at 88K for a gate length of 1.1 µm. We conclude that it is not necessary for HEMT's with two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channels to have alloyed ohmic contacts, because the tunneling conduction is significant at the n-GaAs/n-AlGaAs/undoped GaAs double heterojunction.