High-Frequency GaN Electronic Devices

This book brings together recent research by scientists and device engineers working on both aggressively-scaled conventional transistors as well as unconventional high-frequency device concepts in the III-N material system. Device concepts for mm-wave to THz operation based on deeply-scaled HEMTs, as well as distributed device designs based on plasma-wave propagation in polarization-induced 2DEG channels, tunneling, and hot-carrier injection are discussed in detail.  In addition, advances in the underlying materials science that enable these demonstrations, and advancements in metrology that permit the accurate characterization and evaluation of these emerging device concepts are also included.  Targeting readers looking to push the envelope in GaN-based electronics device research, this book provides a current, comprehensive treatment of device concepts and physical phenomenology suitable for applying GaN and related materials to emerging ultra-high-frequency applications.  

• Offers readers an integrated treatment of the state of the art in both conventional (i.e., HEMT) scaling as well as unconventional device architectures suitable for amplification and signal generation in the mm-wave and THz regime using GaN-based devices, written by authors that are active and widely-known experts in the field;
• Discusses both conventional scaled HEMTs (into the deep mm-wave) as well as unconventional approaches to address the mm-wave and THz regimes;
• Provides “vertically integrated” coverage, including materials science that enables these recent advances, as well as device physics & design, and metrology techniques;
• Includes fundamental physics, as well as numerical simulations and experimental realizations.

Patrick Fay received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996 after receiving a B.S. in electrical engineering from Notre Dame in 1991.  Dr. Fay served as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996 and 1997, and joined the faculty at the University of Notre Dame in 1997.  Dr. Fay's research interests include the design, fabrication, and characterization of microwave, millimeter-wave, and terahertz electronic devices and circuits, as well as devices for high-power applications.  His research also includes the development and use of micromachining techniques for the fabrication of microwave through sub-millimeter-wave components and packaging.  At Notre Dame, he was awarded the Department of Electrical Engineering's Outstanding Teacher Award in 1998-1999 and 2018, and the College of Engineering’s Outstanding Teacher award in 2015.  Prof. Fay is a Fellow of the IEEE, and has published 9 book chapters and more than 300 articles in refereed scientific journals and conference proceedings.

Dr. Debdeep Jena is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University.  He joined Cornell in 2015 from the faculty at Notre Dame where he was since August 2003, shortly after earning the Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).  During his research career, he has received the International MBE Young Scientist award in 2014, the IBM faculty award in 2012, the ISCS Young Scientist award in 2012, the most valuable contribution awards at the Workshop for Compound Semiconductor Materials and Devices (WOCSEMMAD) in 2014, 2010 and 2008, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award in 2006, a best student paper award at the Electronic Materials Conference in 2002, and a young author best paper award from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) in 2000.  His research and teaching interests are in the MBE growth and device applications of quantum semiconductor heterostructures (III-V nitride and oxide semiconductors), investigation of charge transport in nanostructured semiconducting materials such as graphene, 2D crystals, nanowires and nanocrystals, and in the theory of charge, heat, and spin transport in nanomaterials.  He has authored more than 160 scientific publications including articles in Science, Nature Journals, Physical Review Letters, Electron Device Letters, and Applied Physics Letters.

Paul Maki is Program Officer for The Office of Naval Research (ONR) RF Semiconductor Devices, RF Solid State Amplifiers and Wide Bandgap Materials Program.