InP metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors with mercury and cadmium gates

Abstract

Depletion-type InP field-effect transistors have been constructed employing metal-semiconductor junctions between both mercury and InP and cadmium and InP as the blocking electrodes. The barrier height (0.6–0.7 eV) that can be obtained between electroplated Cd and InP is sufficiently large to give negligibly small (J<10−4 A/cm2) gate current densities at reverse bias voltages of 10 V. Although probably not of much technological usefulness, the Hg gate InP metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor is interesting because the large Schottky barrier height between Hg and n-InP (∼0.9 eV) permits the fabrication of devices for the nondestructive profiling of the mobility and carrier concentration in thin epitaxial layers of InP.