This book develops the device physics of the Si and III-V compound semiconductor devices used in integrated circuits. Important equations are derived from basic physical concepts. The physics of these devices are related to the parameters used in SPICE. Terminology is intended to prepare students for reading technical journals on semiconductor devices.
Devices For Integrated Circuits: Silicon And III-V Compound Semiconductors Download Pdfl
III-V compound semiconductors are widely used for electronic and optoelectronic applications. However, interfacing III-Vs with other materials has been fundamentally limited by the high growth temperatures and lattice-match requirements of traditional deposition processes. Recently, we developed the templated liquid-phase (TLP) crystal growth method for enabling direct growth of shape-controlled single-crystal III-Vs on amorphous substrates. Although in theory, the lowest temperature for TLP growth is that of the melting point of the group III metal (e.g., 156.6 C for indium), previous experiments required a minimum growth temperature of 500 C, thus being incompatible with many application-specific substrates. Here, we demonstrate low-temperature TLP (LT-TLP) growth of single-crystalline InP patterns at substrate temperatures down to 220 C by first activating the precursor, thus enabling the direct growth of InP even on low thermal budget substrates such as plastics and indium-tin-oxide (ITO)-coated glass. Importantly, the material exhibits high electron mobilities and good optoelectronic properties as demonstrated by the fabrication of high-performance transistors and light-emitting devices. Furthermore, this work may enable integration of III-Vs with silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processing for monolithic 3D integrated circuits and/or back-end electronics.
Integrated photonics was rejuvenated as silicon starting challenging the dominant status of conventional III-V compound semiconductors at onset of the new millennium. Heterogeneous III-V-on-silicon integration provides an ideal platform to marry their respective material and production advantages. Two veteran researchers in this field, Di Liang from Hewlett Packard Labs and John Bowers from University of California - Santa Barbara, carefully reviewed a number of recent breakthroughs to show how this novel concept has evolved from a science project 15 years ago to a growing business and compelling research field today. It includes both commercial successes in optical transceivers and new research directions in materials, device designs and integration platform innovations. Future progress perspectives were discussed at the end to encourage more technological advances in academia and industry.
Abstract: Silicon (Si) photonics is a disruptive technology on the fast track to revolutionise integrated photonics. An indispensable branch thereof, heterogeneous Si integration, has also evolved from a science project 15 years ago to a growing business and compelling research field today. We focus on the scope of III-V compound semiconductors heterogeneously integrated on Si substrates. The commercial success of massively produced integrated optical transceivers based on first-generation innovation is discussed. Then, we review a number of technological breakthroughs at the component and platform levels. In addition to the numerous new device performance records, our emphasis is on the rationale behind and the design principles underlying specific examples of materials and device integration. Finally, we offer perspectives on development trends catering to the increasing demand in many existing and emerging applications.
Apart from silicon, there are compound semiconductors that combine Group III and V elements and Group II and VI elements. For example, GaAs, InP, InGaAlP, etc. have been conventionally used for high-frequency devices and optical devices. In recent years, InGaN has been attracting attention as a material for blue LEDs and laser diodes, and SiC and GaN as materials for power semiconductors have been noted and commercialized.
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. Its conducting properties may be altered in useful ways by introducing impurities ("doping") into the crystal structure. When two differently doped regions exist in the same crystal, a semiconductor junction is created. The behavior of charge carriers, which include electrons, ions, and electron holes, at these junctions is the basis of diodes, transistors, and most modern electronics. Some examples of semiconductors are silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, and elements near the so-called "metalloid staircase" on the periodic table. After silicon, gallium arsenide is the second-most common semiconductor and is used in laser diodes, solar cells, microwave-frequency integrated circuits, and others. Silicon is a critical element for fabricating most electronic circuits.
The most common semiconducting materials are crystalline solids, but amorphous and liquid semiconductors are also known. These include hydrogenated amorphous silicon and mixtures of arsenic, selenium, and tellurium in a variety of proportions. These compounds share with better-known semiconductors the properties of intermediate conductivity and a rapid variation of conductivity with temperature, as well as occasional negative resistance. Such disordered materials lack the rigid crystalline structure of conventional semiconductors such as silicon. They are generally used in thin film structures, which do not require material of higher electronic quality, being relatively insensitive to impurities and radiation damage.
Almost all of today's electronic technology involves the use of semiconductors, with the most important aspect being the integrated circuit (IC), which are found in desktops, laptops, scanners, cell-phones, and other electronic devices. Semiconductors for ICs are mass-produced. To create an ideal semiconducting material, chemical purity is paramount. Any small imperfection can have a drastic effect on how the semiconducting material behaves due to the scale at which the materials are used.[4]
The microelectronics revolution was built on a foundation of monocrystalline silicon wafers, the platform on which nearly all integrated logic devices have been fabricated. And advances in semiconductor manufacturing, as well as the availability of high-purity and high-structural-quality base materials, have enabled significant progress in advanced photonics.
Combining epitaxial growth of compound semiconductor structures with crystalline layer transfer techniques therefore allows for the development of advanced photonic devices, reaching far beyond the current capabilities of SOI-based structures. In the rest of this feature, we look at the potential advantages of this platform in a variety of integrated-photonic devices and contexts.
As GaAs devices grew in popularity for RF/microwave applications, they rapidly replaced legacy silicon-based semiconductors, such as bipolar transistors and metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), which were limited in frequency compared to GaAs field-effect transistors (FETs), heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs).
Before attempting to compare differences in devices fabricated on the two high-frequency semiconductor materials, however, it is only necessary to assess the differences in characteristics of the two III-V compound semiconductors. These key material characteristics include relative dielectric constant (relative to the dielectric constant of a vacuum), breakdown voltage, electron mobility, saturation velocity, and thermal conductivity. 2ff7e9595c