Temperature dependence of ballistic mobility in a metamorphic InGaAs/InAlAs high electron mobility transistor

We have investigated the temperature dependence of ballistic mobility in a 100 nm-long InGaAs/InAlAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor designed for millimeter-wavelength RF applications. To extract the temperature dependence of quasi-ballistic mobility, our experiment involves measurements of the effective mobility in the low-bias linear region of the transistor and of the collision-dominated Hall mobility using a gated Hall bar of the same epitaxial structure. The data measured from the experiment are consistent with that of modeled ballistic mobility based on ballistic transport theory. These results advance the understanding of ballistic transport in various transistors with a nano-scale channel length that is comparable to the carrier's mean free path in the channel. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.