Hot electron model for the large-signal modelling of MM-wave GaAs transferred electron devices

The design of microwave transferred electron devices (TEDs) has been traditionally based on epitaxially grown n⁺-n-n⁺ structures with an n-type drift region sandwiched between two n ⁺ contacts to which ohmic contacts are made. A great deal of effort has gone into the understanding of these devices, in order to improve their design, from the early theoretical contribution of inter-valley transfer of electrons to complex computer simulations solving the classical semiconductor equations. However, as higher frequencies and output powers have been achieved in practical devices, the simpler models have proved incapable of modelling accurately the behaviour of these devices. The authors present a detailed hot-electron physical device model suitable for the large-signal modelling of GaAs TEDs. All results presented are compared with experimental results, essential for the verification and validation of the model especially for this inherently nonlinear, circuit-dependent device