InP-Based Unipolar Heterostructure Diode for Vertical Integration, Level Shifting, and Small Signal Rectification

Werner PROST  Dudu ZHANG  Benjamin MUNSTERMANN  Tobias FELDENGUT  Ralf GEITMANN  Artur POLOCZEK  Franz-Josef TEGUDE  

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E93-C    No.8    pp.1309-1314
Publication Date: 2010/08/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1353
DOI: 10.1587/transele.E93.C.1309
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Heterostructure Microelectronics with TWHM 2009)
Category: III-V Heterostructure Devices
Keyword: 
InP unipolar diode,  n-n heterostructure,  small signal rectification,  RFID,  voltage multiplier,  

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Summary: 
A unipolar n-n heterostrucuture diode is developed in the InP material system. The electronic barrier is formed by a saw tooth type of conduction band bending which consists of a quaternary In0.52(AlyGa1-y)0.48As layer with 0 < y < ymax. This barrier is lattice matched for all y to InP and is embedded between two n+-InGaAs layers. By varying the maximum Al-content from ymax,1 = 0.7 to ymax,2 = 1 a variable barrier height is formed which enables a diode-type I-V characteristic by epitaxial design with an adjustable current density within 3 orders of magnitude. The high current density of the diode with the lower barrier height (ymax,1 = 0.7) makes it suitable for high frequency applications at low signal levels. RF measurements reveal a speed index of 52 ps/V at VD = 0.15 V. The device is investigated for RF-to-DC power conversion in UHF RFID transponders with low-amplitude RF signals.