Design of High Frequency Single and Double Gate Laterally-Contacted InGaAs/InAlAs HEMTs

Background and Objectives: High electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are designed so that they are able to work at higher frequencies than conventional transistors and this has made them an attractive topic of research.Methods: Two developed designs of InGaAs/InAlAs high electron mobility transistors have been studied. The proposed laterally contacted HEMTs satisfy the desired high frequency characteristics and are good candidates for high frequency applications. Two kinds of HEMTs have been designed and simulated: single-gate laterally contacted HEMT (SGLC-HEMT) and doublegate laterally contacted HEMT (DGLC-HEMT).Results: The proposed SGLC-HEMT exhibits 111 GHz current-gain cut-off frequency. By using double-gate design, the current-gain cut-off frequency has been increased to 256 GHz. The simulation results show that the maximum oscillation frequency for the proposed SGLC and DGLC HEMTs, are 410 GHz and 768 GHz, respectively. The maximum value of transconductance (gm) for SGLC-HEMT is obtained 620 mS/mm while it is 1130 mS/mm for DGLC-HEMT.Conclusion: In order to increase the fT and fmax, instead of decreasing the gate length which is a restricted solution because of short channel effects, a very efficient structure was proposed. The designed HEMT benefits from laterally source and drain contacts. The results showed superior performance of the laterally contacted HEMTs compared to top contacted ones. The best frequency response was obtained for DGLC-HEMT. The proposed DG-HEMT design could improve the current-gain cut-off frequency and maximum oscillation frequency to 256 GHz and 768 GHz, respectively. The comparison of the performance of the DGLC-HEMT with SGLC-HEMT and with previously reported double gate HEMTs, verified the significant improvements in DC and AC characteristics of the HEMTs caused by the proposed design.