Narrow band gap III–V based-FET for ultra low power high frequency analog applications

For more than 30 years, III-V materials and associated transistors or integrated circuits aroused of numerous studies to achieve today an industrial reality with the availability of a panel of high performance technologies. For the development of these III-V technologies, there was no established roadmap; the line of sight was essentially the increase of the operating frequency limit (more than 300GHz) either for ultra low noise high frequency (HF) electronics, or for high power HF electronics. The interest carried to these technologies results from two fundamental aspects: the incredible variety of materials presenting excellent electronic characteristics and the discovery of the exceptional properties of heterojunctions allowing the engineering of energy bands. Four main types of III-V material systems have been investigated: GaAs, InP (InGaAs channel), InAs and a little less InSb. The main physical parameters of such materials are summarized.