Metamorphic buffers ~M-buffers! consisting of graded InAlAs or bulk InP were employed for the production of InP-based epiwafers on GaAs substrates by molecular-beam epitaxy. The graded InAlAs is the standard for production metamorphic high electron mobility transistors ~M-HEMTs!, while the bulk InP offers superior thermal properties for higher current density circuits. The surface morphology an...

Relaxed SiGe attracted much interest due to the applications for strained Si/SiGe high electron mobility transistor, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, heterojunction bipolar transistor, and other devices. High-quality relaxed SiGe templates, especially those with a low threading dislocation density and smooth surface, are critical for device performance. In this work, SiGe film...

Communication systems today comprise the major use of GaAs technology with the highest volumes found in the cellular handset front-end. Here, heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) power amplifiers (PA) and Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor (PHEMT) switches enjoy a comfortable market share. In this environment, the demands of production design require a robust CAD system with acc...

Fig. 1. Cross-section of self-aligned base-emitter junction from Teledyne 500nm HBT process [6] InP-based transistor technologies, both high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and double heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs), have demonstrated the highest reported transistor RF figures-of-merit. Both device technologies have been reported with current gain cutoff frequencies (ft) in exc...

Bipolar transistor performances can be characterized by figures of merit such as cut-off frequency, maximum frequency of oscillation and Emitter Coupled Logic gate delay. We studied the required figures of merit for digital application and the effects of lateral and vertical scaling to the figures of merit of SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor. With lateral scaling, the width of emitter fin...

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted to Dr. John D. Cressler for his patience, guidance, and support throughout my master's program. My inspiration came from his passion for research and his confidence in my abilities. Working under his leadership in such an exciting field was both educationally and professionally enriching. I would also like to thank the other members of my thesis advisory co...

The need to serve the explosion in data bandwidth demand for fixed and mobile applications has driven transistor performance requirements beyond the reach of conventional silicon devices. Scaling limits of silicon-based bipolar transistors have been encountered, confining further performance gains by traditional means, but cost considerations favor the continued use of silicon-derived technolog...