InGaAs/AlAs/InGaAsP resonant tunneling hot electron transistors grown by chemical beam epitaxy

InP-based resonant tunneling hot electron transistors (RHET´s) were studied systematically using chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) for the first time. All the RHET´s studied have a highly strained AlAs/In_0.75Ga_0.25As/AlAs resonant tunneling double barrier as a hot electron injector, and an InP collector barrier with or without InGaAsP graded layers. The highest transport ratio (α) observed is 0.98, and the highest peak-to-valley current ratios (PVR´s) measured are 20 and 200 in the collector current and base current, respectively, at 80 K. A self-consistent simulation is used as a reference to optimize the hot electron injector and to explain the ballistic transport. An energy spectrometer technique was applied to the RHET´s for resolving the hot electron energy distribution which showed a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of around 58 meV, indicating ballistic transport of electrons. Finally, room temperature transistor action was also observed with a β of 4 and a cutoff frequency of 31 GHz