This dissertation focuses on the development of integrated circuits that employ InAs quantum well electronic devices. There are two InAs quantum well electronic devices studied in this work, the first being the pseudomorphic InAs/In₀.₅₃Ga₀.₄₇As/AlAs resonant tunneling diode (RTD) grown on an InP substrate, and the second being the InAs/AlSb HEMT. Because of there is no semi-insulating substrate near the InAs lattice constant of 6.06 Å this work develops monolithic and hybrid integration methods to realize integrated circuits. For the case of hybrid RTD circuits, a thin-film integration method was developed to integrate InAs/In₀.₅₃Ga₀.₄₇As/AlAs RTDs to prefabricated CMOS circuits, and this technique was employed to demonstrate a novel RTD-CMOS comparator. To achieve higher speed circuit operation, a next-generation RTD fabrication process was developed to minimize the parasitic capacitance associated with the thin-film hybridization process. This improved fabrication process is detailed and yield and uniformity analysis is included. Similar InP-based tunnel diodes can be integrated with InP-based HEMTs in monolithic RTD-HEMT integrated circuits, and in this work elementary microwave circuit components were characterized that co-integrate InP-based tunnel diodes with HEMTs. In the case of the InAs/AlSb HEMT, the monolithic approach grows the HEMT on a metamorphic buffer on a GaAs substrate. The semiconductor material and process development of the InAs/AlSb HEMT MMIC technology is described. The remarkable microwave and RF noise properties of the InAs/AlSb HEMT were characterized and analyzed, with special attention given to the strong effects of impact ionization in the narrow bandgap InAs channel. Results showed the extent to which impact ionization affects the small-signal gain and noise figure of the HEMT, and that these effects become less prevalent as the frequency of operation increases.

Calculamos a estrutura eletrônica de heteroestruturas semicondutoras III-V e II-VI na aproximação da função envelope, usando o método k.p, na presença de campos elétricos e magnéticos externos. Para isso desenvolvemos um método numérico baseado na técnica das diferenças finitas e no método da potência inversa para resolvermos a equação de massa efetiva. As principais características desse método são a estabilidade, a rápida convergência e a possibilidade de calcular os estados ligados de poços quânticos com formas arbitrárias na presença de campos elétricos e magnéticos. Investigamos inicialmente o tunelamento ressonante de portadores em um poço quântico duplo assimétrico de GaAs/GaAlAs na presença de um campo elétrico aplicado na direção de crescimento e de um campo magnético aplicado no plano perpendicular. Mostramos como as relações de dispersão de um poço quântico simples podem ser obtidas experimentalmente da curva do campo elétrico versus campo magnético ressonante e como, para determinadas intensidades desses campos, podemos colocar os estados eletrônicos e de buracos em ressonância simultaneamente, isto é, mostramos a possibilidade de termos o tunelamento ressonante de éxcitons. Investigamos também o tunelamento ressonante de portadores em um poço quântico duplo assimétrico de CdTe/CdMnTe na presença de um campo elétrico e de um campo magnético aplicados na direção de crescimento. Mostramos então como podemos obter o tunelamento ressonante de elétrons, buracos e também de éxcitons. Outro problema estudado foi a anisotropia do efeito Zeeman com a direção do campo magnético aplicado em um poço quântico simples de CdTe/CdMnTe. Calculamos os níveis de energia e as transições eletrônicas desse sistema em função da intensidade e da direção do campo magnético. Em todos os casos fazemos uma comparação dos nossos resultados com dados experimentais apresentados na literatura. / The electronic structure of III-V and II-VI semiconductor heterostructures has been calculated in the envelope function approximation using the k.p method in the presence of external electric and magnetic fields. A numerical method based on the technique of the finite differences and in the inverse power method has been developed to solve the effective-mass equation. The main features of this method are stability, fast convergence and ability to calculate bound states of quantum wells with arbitrary shapes including electric and magnetic fields. We investigate the resonant tunneling of carriers in an GaAs/GaAlAs asymmetric double quantum well in the presence of an electric field applied in the growth direction and a magnetic field applied in the perpendicular plane. We show how the dispersion relation of a quantum well can be experimentally determined from the electric versus resonant magnetic fields curves. For certain intensities of these fields, we can make both electrons and holes resonate simultaneously, which leads to resonant tunneling of excitons. The resonant tunneling of carriers has also been investigated in a CdTe/CdMnTe asymmetric double quantum well in the presence of an electric field and a magnetic field applied both in the growth direction. For this system we show that how we can obtain resonant tunneling of electrons, holes and excitons. Finally, we have studied the anisotropy of the Zeeman Effect as a function of the direction of the magnetic field for a CdTe/CdMnTe quantum well. We calculated the energy levels and the electronic transitions of this system as a function of the intensity and the direction of the magnetic field. In all the cases we compare our results with available experimental data.

Calculamos a estrutura eletrônica do sistema formado por dois poços quânticos assimétricos (Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs) com dopagem delta (Si) no centro de cada poço. Resolvemos a equação de Schrödinger usando a teoria do funcional densidade na aproximação de densidade local. Obtemos o potencial efetivo, os níveis de energia, a ocupação das sub-bandas e a densidade eletrônica total em função da temperatura, espessura da barreira de potencial que separa os dois poços, concentração e difusão dos átomos doadores. Verificamos que a estrutura eletrônica e pouco influenciada pela temperatura e difusão dos doadores. Por outro lado, nossos resultados mostram que ela depende de forma significativa da concentração dos doadores. Investigamos também como o sistema e influenciado por uma tensão elétrica aplicada na direção de crescimento. Calculamos os níveis de energia e ocupação das sub-bandas em função da tensão elétrica aplicada. Determinamos então a tensão elétrica necessária para tomar ressonantes os dois primeiros níveis de energia para barreiras de potencial de espessuras 25&#197 e 50&#197. Uma possível aplicação para esse sistema e analisada. Verificamos que ele apresenta efeitos de mobilidade modulada e transcondutância negativa quando as mobilidades nos dois poços são diferentes. Consideramos ainda o caso em que um campo magnético e aplicado perpendicularmente a direção de crescimento. Nossos resultados mostram que a forma da relação de dispersão En( kx), inicialmente parabólica, e bastante modificada pelo campo magnético, surgindo estados ressonantes para kx diferente de zero. Conseqüentemente, a massa efetiva eletrônica nessa direção também e modificada, dependendo agora da energia do elétron. Para campo magnético nulo verificamos que a massa efetiva e diferente em cada sub-banda. / In this work we calculate the electronic structure of a double asymmetric quantum well of Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs with a delta doping at the center of the wells. The local density approximation was used in order to obtain the effective potential energy levels, population and the total electronic density as a function of the temperature, barrier thickness, impurity concentration and impurity spread. We have observed that the electronic structure is almost not sensitive to the temperature and the spread of the donors but it depends strongly of the donors concentration. The effect of a gate voltage (Vc) is also studied. The energy levels and the occupation of these levels are calculated as a function of Vc. The resonances of the two first levels are studied for a system with barrier thickness 25&#197 and 50&#197. A possible practical application for this system is analyzed. We observe that mobility modulation and negative transconductance can be achieved when the mobilities of the two wells are different. We have considered the effect of a uniform magnetic field applied perpendicular to the growth direction. The dispersion relation is strongly modified and the effective mass for each subband has been calculated.

Calculamos a estrutura eletrônica do sistema formado por dois poços quânticos assimétricos (Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs) com dopagem delta (Si) no centro de cada poço. Resolvemos a equação de Schrödinger usando a teoria do funcional densidade na aproximação de densidade local. Obtemos o potencial efetivo, os níveis de energia, a ocupação das sub-bandas e a densidade eletrônica total em função da temperatura, espessura da barreira de potencial que separa os dois poços, concentração e difusão dos átomos doadores. Verificamos que a estrutura eletrônica e pouco influenciada pela temperatura e difusão dos doadores. Por outro lado, nossos resultados mostram que ela depende de forma significativa da concentração dos doadores. Investigamos também como o sistema e influenciado por uma tensão elétrica aplicada na direção de crescimento. Calculamos os níveis de energia e ocupação das sub-bandas em função da tensão elétrica aplicada. Determinamos então a tensão elétrica necessária para tomar ressonantes os dois primeiros níveis de energia para barreiras de potencial de espessuras 25&#197 e 50&#197. Uma possível aplicação para esse sistema e analisada. Verificamos que ele apresenta efeitos de mobilidade modulada e transcondutância negativa quando as mobilidades nos dois poços são diferentes. Consideramos ainda o caso em que um campo magnético e aplicado perpendicularmente a direção de crescimento. Nossos resultados mostram que a forma da relação de dispersão En( kx), inicialmente parabólica, e bastante modificada pelo campo magnético, surgindo estados ressonantes para kx diferente de zero. Conseqüentemente, a massa efetiva eletrônica nessa direção também e modificada, dependendo agora da energia do elétron. Para campo magnético nulo verificamos que a massa efetiva e diferente em cada sub-banda. / In this work we calculate the electronic structure of a double asymmetric quantum well of Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs with a delta doping at the center of the wells. The local density approximation was used in order to obtain the effective potential energy levels, population and the total electronic density as a function of the temperature, barrier thickness, impurity concentration and impurity spread. We have observed that the electronic structure is almost not sensitive to the temperature and the spread of the donors but it depends strongly of the donors concentration. The effect of a gate voltage (Vc) is also studied. The energy levels and the occupation of these levels are calculated as a function of Vc. The resonances of the two first levels are studied for a system with barrier thickness 25&#197 and 50&#197. A possible practical application for this system is analyzed. We observe that mobility modulation and negative transconductance can be achieved when the mobilities of the two wells are different. We have considered the effect of a uniform magnetic field applied perpendicular to the growth direction. The dispersion relation is strongly modified and the effective mass for each subband has been calculated.

Calculamos a estrutura eletrônica de heteroestruturas semicondutoras III-V e II-VI na aproximação da função envelope, usando o método k.p, na presença de campos elétricos e magnéticos externos. Para isso desenvolvemos um método numérico baseado na técnica das diferenças finitas e no método da potência inversa para resolvermos a equação de massa efetiva. As principais características desse método são a estabilidade, a rápida convergência e a possibilidade de calcular os estados ligados de poços quânticos com formas arbitrárias na presença de campos elétricos e magnéticos. Investigamos inicialmente o tunelamento ressonante de portadores em um poço quântico duplo assimétrico de GaAs/GaAlAs na presença de um campo elétrico aplicado na direção de crescimento e de um campo magnético aplicado no plano perpendicular. Mostramos como as relações de dispersão de um poço quântico simples podem ser obtidas experimentalmente da curva do campo elétrico versus campo magnético ressonante e como, para determinadas intensidades desses campos, podemos colocar os estados eletrônicos e de buracos em ressonância simultaneamente, isto é, mostramos a possibilidade de termos o tunelamento ressonante de éxcitons. Investigamos também o tunelamento ressonante de portadores em um poço quântico duplo assimétrico de CdTe/CdMnTe na presença de um campo elétrico e de um campo magnético aplicados na direção de crescimento. Mostramos então como podemos obter o tunelamento ressonante de elétrons, buracos e também de éxcitons. Outro problema estudado foi a anisotropia do efeito Zeeman com a direção do campo magnético aplicado em um poço quântico simples de CdTe/CdMnTe. Calculamos os níveis de energia e as transições eletrônicas desse sistema em função da intensidade e da direção do campo magnético. Em todos os casos fazemos uma comparação dos nossos resultados com dados experimentais apresentados na literatura. / The electronic structure of III-V and II-VI semiconductor heterostructures has been calculated in the envelope function approximation using the k.p method in the presence of external electric and magnetic fields. A numerical method based on the technique of the finite differences and in the inverse power method has been developed to solve the effective-mass equation. The main features of this method are stability, fast convergence and ability to calculate bound states of quantum wells with arbitrary shapes including electric and magnetic fields. We investigate the resonant tunneling of carriers in an GaAs/GaAlAs asymmetric double quantum well in the presence of an electric field applied in the growth direction and a magnetic field applied in the perpendicular plane. We show how the dispersion relation of a quantum well can be experimentally determined from the electric versus resonant magnetic fields curves. For certain intensities of these fields, we can make both electrons and holes resonate simultaneously, which leads to resonant tunneling of excitons. The resonant tunneling of carriers has also been investigated in a CdTe/CdMnTe asymmetric double quantum well in the presence of an electric field and a magnetic field applied both in the growth direction. For this system we show that how we can obtain resonant tunneling of electrons, holes and excitons. Finally, we have studied the anisotropy of the Zeeman Effect as a function of the direction of the magnetic field for a CdTe/CdMnTe quantum well. We calculated the energy levels and the electronic transitions of this system as a function of the intensity and the direction of the magnetic field. In all the cases we compare our results with available experimental data.

The resonant tunneling diode (RTD) is the fastest electron device to-date in terms of its ability to generate continuous-wave terahertz frequency at room temperature, owing to its unique characteristic of negative differential resistance (NDR). In this work, a lattice-matched In0.53Ga0.47As (on InP) is used as the cladding layer, while a highly-compressive strained In0.8Ga0.2As is sandwiched between two tensile-strained pseudomorphic AlAs barriers to form the active double barrier quantum well RTD structure grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The ultimate aim of this work was to integrate an optimised RTD into an oscillator circuit to enable a 100 GHz (W-band) MMIC RTD oscillator. One of the key challenges in this work was to improve the DC performance of the RTD, through extensive material and structural characterisations. Growing nano-scale epitaxial layers require a high degree of controllability with mono-layer precision. The dependencies of the NDR components, such as the peak current density, peak voltage and peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) towards variations in structural thickness were studied systematically. Through this work, it is found that the peak current density is strongly affected by monolayer variation in barrier thickness. The effect of quantum well thickness variation towards peak current density is relatively weaker. Interestingly, variation in spacer layer thickness has very little influence towards the magnitude of the peak current density. The fabrication of the RTD using a conventional i-line optical lithography created its own challenge. The process capability to reduce mesa active area down to sub-micrometer level to reduce device’s geometrical capacitance for high frequency, THz applications has been made feasible in this work. The conventional i-line optical lithography was combined with a newly developed tri-layer soft reflow technique using solvent vapour resulted in sub-micrometer RTDs. The DC characterisation of the fabricated RTDs showed excellent device scalability, indicating a robust processing. This novel sub-micron processing technique with high throughput and repeatability is a very promising low cost technique. A collaborative effort between the University of Manchester and Glasgow paved the way towards the realisation of an integrated W-band RTD MMIC oscillator. The circuit-combining topology was designed by the High Frequency Electronics Group in Glasgow while the mask-layout and oscillator fabrication took place in Manchester. An active RTD from sample XMBE#301 with peak current density of 1.4 x 105 A/cm2 and PVCR of 4.5 was integrated into a 100 GHz MMIC oscillator to successfully produce a measured frequency of 109 GHz with an un-optimised 5.5 μW output power at room temperature (mesa area = 4x4 μm2).

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第23451号 / 理博第4745号 / 新制||理||1680(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 田中 耕一郎, 教授 佐々 真一, 教授 金光 義彦 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Innovative nano-scale devices have been developed to enhance future circuit design to overcome physical barriers hindering complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Among the emerging nanodevices, resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) have demonstrated promising electronic features due to their high speed switching capability and functional versatility. Great circuit functionality can be achieved through integrating heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) in conjunction with RTDs to modulate effective negative differential resistance (NDR). However, RTDs are intrinsically suitable for implementing threshold logic rather than Boolean logic which has dominated CMOS technology in the past. To fully take advantage of such emerging nanotechnology, efficient design methodologies and design automation tools for threshold logic therefore become essential. In this thesis, we first propose novel programmable logic elements (PLEs) implemented in threshold gates (TGs) and multi-threshold threshold gates (MTTGs) by exploring RTD/ HFET monostable-bistable transition logic element (MOBILE) principles. Our three-input PLE can be configured through five control bits to realize all the three-variable logic functions, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the first single RTD-based structure that provides complete logic implementation. It is also a more efficient reconfigurable circuit element than a general look-up table which requires eight configuration bits for three-variable functions. We further extend the design concept to construct a more versatile four-input PLE. A comprehensive comparison of three- and four-input PLEs provides an insightful view of design tradeoffs between performance and area. We present the mathematical proof of PLE's logic completeness based on Shannon Expansion, as well as the HSPICE simulation results of the programmable and primitive RTD/HFET gates that we have designed. An efficient control bit generating algorithm is developed by using a special encoding scheme to implement any given logic function. In addition, we propose novel techniques of formulating a given threshold logic in conjunctive normal form (CNF) that facilitates efficient SAT-based equivalence checking for threshold logic networks. Three different strategies of CNF generation from threshold logic representations are implemented. Experimental results based on MCNC benchmarks are presented as a complete comparison. Our hybrid algorithm, which takes into account input symmetry as well as input weight order of threshold gates, can efficiently generate CNF formulas in terms of both SAT solving time and CNF generating time. / Master of Science

Neste trabalho investigamos o tunelamento ressonante em estruturas de dupla barreira GaAs/(AlGa)As que foram fabricadas em mesas quadradas de tamanho lateral mesoscópico e macroscópico (&#8764 10&#956m &#215 10&#956m). Uma camada tipo &#948 com diferentes concentrações de Silício foi incorporada no centro do poço quântico. As características I(V) mostram algumas estruturas em posição de voltagem abaixo do pico de ressonância principal que são atribuídas a estados relacionados a impurezas. Tais estados localizados estão presentes no poço quântico com energias de ligação bem maiores do que um doador de Silício isolado. Estes estados de maior energia de ligação são atribuídos a pares de doadores distribuídos aleatoriamente. Em alguns dispositivos onde estados relacionados a impurezas podem ser identificados isoladamente na característica I(V), um efeito destacável pode ser observado. Um pica na característica I(V) aparece nas mais baixas temperaturas medidas (abaixo de 1K) quando o nível de Fermi no emissor se alinha com o estado localizado relacionado a impureza. Tal pico e atribuído a interação Coulombiana entre o elétron no sitio localizado e os elétrons no gás bidimensional (emissor). / We have investigated resonant tunneling in GaAs/(AlGa)As double barrier structures which have been fabricated into square mesoscopic and macroscopic size mesas (&#8764 10&#956m &#215 10&#956m) A &#948 layer with different concentrations of Silicon donors was incorporated at the centre of the quantum well. The I(V) characteristics show some features below the threshold for the main resonance that are due to impurity related state. Such localized states are found to be related to the presence of donor impurities in the vicinity of the quantum well with binding energies much higher than the single isolated hydrogen donor. These higher binding energy states are identified as being due to random pairs of shallow donors. In some devices where an isolated impurity related state can be identified in the 1(V characteristics a remarkable effect is observed. A peak appears at low temperatures (below 1K) in the 1(V) characteristics when the emitter Fermi level matches the localized state. Such feature is attributed to the Coulomb interaction between the electron on the localized site and the electrons in the Fermi sea of the 2DEG.

abstract: This work is an investigation into the information provided by the concurrent use of in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and reflection electron energy loss spectroscopy (REELS). The two analytical methods were employed during growth of metal, semiconductor and superconductor thin films by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Surface sensitivity of the REELS spectrometer was found to be less than 1 nm for 20 KeV electrons incident at a 2 degree angle to an atomically flat film surface, agreeing with the standard electron escape depth data when adjusted incident angle. Film surface topography was found to strongly influence the REELS spectra and this was correlated with in situ RHEED patterns and ex situ analysis by comparison with atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was observed in all the experimental results that from very smooth films the plasmon peak maxima did not fall at the predicted surface plasmon values but at slightly higher energies, even for nearly atomically flat films. This suggested the REELS plasmon loss spectra are always a combination of surface and bulk plasmon losses. The resulting summation of these two types of losses shifted the peak to below the bulk plasmon value but held its minimum to a higher energy than the pure surface plasmon value. Curve fitting supported this conclusion. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Engineering Science 2012