arXiv subjects

Uttam Singisetti

Publications and source records attributed to Uttam Singisetti.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

High-Field Electron Transport in AlGaN alloys: A Full-Band Monte Carlo Study Based on Ab Initio Supercell Calculations

AlGaN alloys are promising wide and ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductors for next-generation power and RF electronics applications. To realize the full potential of AlGaN based devices, it is important to understand the electron transport to accurately predict device performance and identify material limits under various operating conditions. In this work, the high-field electron transport properties of AlxGa1-xN are investigated using a supercell based full band Monte Carlo method. The supercell approach is employed to explicitly capture the true disorder of the alloy system, enabling a more realistic description of carrier transport. The velocity field characteristics are calculated across a range of Al compositions to evaluate key transport metrics, including peak velocity, saturation velocity, and critical electric field. The role of different scattering mechanisms is studied in detail to understand the high field transport mechanism in the AlGaN alloy system. In addition to steady state transport, transient electron dynamics are examined for various Al fractions to study velocity-overshoot behavior, which is especially important for improving the performance of scaled RF devices. Finally, the temperature dependence of the velocity field characteristics in ultra-wide-bandgap Al0.75Ga0.25N is investigated to assess its transport performance under high temperature conditions. These results provide a detailed understanding of high-field transport in AlGaN alloys and offer guidance for the design of AlGaN-based RF and power electronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Beta-AlGaO/Ga2O3 Tri-Gate MOSHEMT with 70GHz fT and 55GHz fmax

We report Beta-AlGaO/Ga2O3 tri-gate heterostructure MOSHEMTs incorporating a thin 5 nm Al2O3 gate oxide layer for improved gate control and reduced leakage. The devices were fabricated on AlGaO/GaO heterostructures grown by ozone MBE on Fe-doped Ga2O3 (010) substrates. The tri-gate MOSHEMTs, with 1 micron-wide fins and Lg=155 nm, exhibit a peak current-gain cut-off frequency fT=70 GHz and a power-gain cut-off frequency fMAX=55 GHz.The fT.L product of 10.85 GHz-micron is the highest among reported Ga2O3 FETs to date. The devices show Vth =-0.5 V, an on/off ratio 10^6 I=80 mA/mm, a peak gm=60 mS/mm, and a low gate leakage current of 10^(-10) mA/mm at Vgs=0.5 V. Passivation with a 100 nm ALD Al2O3 layer effectively removes DC/RF dispersion and maintains stable operation under pulsed IV and repeated RF measurements. These results demonstrate the potential of tri-gate AlGaO/GaO MOSHEMTs for next-generation high-frequency and high-power applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Enhancement-Mode Vertical $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ U-Trench MOSFET with MOCVD Regrown n$^+$ Contact Layers and Nitrogen-Implanted Current Blocking Layer

In this work, an implantation-free ohmic contact technology based on selectively MOCVD-regrown Si-doped n$^+$ layers is demonstrated for enhancement-mode vertical $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ U-trench MOSFETs. The regrown n$^+$ contact structure eliminates the need for implantation-based ohmic contact formation while maintaining excellent electrical characteristics. A multi-energy nitrogen-ion-implanted current blocking layer (CBL) followed by 1100~$^\circ$C activation annealing in N$_2$ ambient for 30 min was employed to achieve normally-OFF operation. Transmission line model measurements yielded a low specific contact resistivity of $2.65 \times 10^{-7}~Ω\cdot$cm$^2$. The fabricated devices exhibited a threshold voltage of approximately 5~V, an ON/OFF current ratio of $1.15\times10^{6}$, a peak current density of 158A/cm$^2$, and a specific ON-resistance of 120.9~m$Ω\cdot$cm$^2$. Three-terminal OFF-state breakdown voltages ranging from 920 to 980~V were achieved at $V_{GS}=0$~V. Multi-finger MOSFETs show current scaling to 0.25 A. These results demonstrate that selectively MOCVD-regrown n$^+$ contact layers provide a promising implantation-free approach for realizing high-performance vertical $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ power MOSFETs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Neutron-Assisted Breakdown Enhancement in $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ Schottky Diodes

This study demonstrates a substantial enhancement of breakdown voltage in $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ Schottky diodes through an approach that combines fast neutron irradiation with controlled post-irradiation electro-thermal annealing. Devices irradiated with 1 MeV neutrons at a high fluence of 1E15 n/cm^2 exhibited substantial degradation, including a drastic reduction in on-current and an increase in on-resistance. Electrothermal testing, conducted through simultaneous current-voltage (J-V) measurements and thermal annealing, resulted in significant recovery. After four cycles of electro-thermal testing, the devices demonstrated significant improvements in performance, with a substantial recovery of on-current and a reduction in on-resistance compared to the post-radiation condition, approaching pre-radiation levels. Most recovery occurred during the first two cycles, with diminishing improvements in later cycles, indicating that most thermally recoverable traps were mitigated early. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements revealed a substantial reduction in carrier concentration, decreasing from 3.2E16 cm^-3 pre-radiation to 5.5E15 cm^-3 after the first electro-thermal testing cycle, indicating an over 82% reduction. Following the third cycle, the carrier concentration partially recovered to 9.9E15 cm^-3, reflecting a carrier removal rate of ~22 cm^-1. The breakdown voltage exhibited a remarkable enhancement, increasing from approximately 300 V to 1.28 kV (a ~325% improvement) after the first electro-thermal testing, attributed to the reduction in carrier concentration by compensating radiation-induced traps. Subsequent testing reduced breakdown voltage slightly to 940 V due to partial recovery of carrier concentration, but it remained significantly higher than pre-radiation levels.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2025

High performance vacuum annealed beta-(AlxGa1-x)2O3/Ga2O3 HFET with f_T/f_MAX of 32/65 GHz

This letter reports high performance beta-(AlxGa1-x)2O3/Ga2O3 Heterostructure FET (HFET) with improved regrowth process. Highly scaled I shaped gate have been fabricated with degenerately doped (N++) source/drain contact regrown by ozone molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Aiming to address the limitations observed in previous generation devices, this work incorporates a low-power BCl3/Ar and SF6/Ar plasma etching process to remove the AlGaO barrier layer and Ga2O3 layer respectively before regrowth. Additionally, the surface was cleaned and vacuum annealing was carried out before MBE regrowth to reduce any interface resistance between highly doped regrowth N++ and 2DEG layer. These meticulously designed fabrication steps enabled us to achieve the high DC current 0.5 A/mm at 5V drain bias with 6.1 $\mathrmΩ$.mm on resistance (R\textsubscript{ON}) at V_GS=3V, peak transconductance (g_m) of 110 mS/mm at room temperature (V_DS=15V) and around 0.8 A/mm (V_DS=5V) peak I_ON} at low temperature (100K). Current gain cut-off frequency (f_T) of 32 GHz and peak power gain cut-off frequency (f_MAX) of 65 GHz were extracted from RF measurements. f_T.L_G product was estimated to be 6.1 GHz-$μ$m for 191 nm L_G and 32 GHz f_T, which is one of the highest reported among Ga2O3 devices. With thicker Al2O3, device shows no current collapse demonstrating first time successful traps passivation with Al2O3 for Ga2O3 devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Radiation Resilience of $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ Schottky Barrier Diodes Under High Dose Gamma Radiation

A systematic investigation of the electrical characteristics of \b{eta}-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) has been conducted under high-dose 60Co gamma radiation, with total cumulative doses reaching up to 5 Mrad (Si). Initial exposure of the diodes to 1 Mrad resulted in a significant decrease in on-current and an increase in on-resistance compared to the pre-radiation condition, likely due to the generation of radiation-induced deep-level acceptor traps. However, upon exposure to higher gamma radiation doses of 3 and 5 Mrad, partial recovery of the device performance occurred, attributed to a radiation annealing effect. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) characterization revealed that the net carrier concentration in the $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ drift layer reduced from $\sim$3.19 $\times$ 10$^{16}$ cm$^{-3}$ to $\sim$3.05 $\times$ 10$^{16}$ cm$^{-3}$ after 5 Mrad (Si) irradiation. Temperature-dependent I-V characteristics showed that irradiation leads to a reduction in both forward and reverse current across all investigated temperatures ranging from 25 to 250$^\circ$C, accompanied by slight increases in on-resistance, ideality factors, and Schottky barrier heights. The reverse breakdown characteristics of the $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ SBDs showed a slight increase of the breakdown voltage after radiation. Overall, $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ Schottky diode exhibits high resilience to gamma irradiation, with performance degradation mitigated by radiation-induced self-recovery, highlighting its potential for radiation-hardened electronic applications in extreme environments.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2024

Effective Phonon Dispersion and Low field transport in AlxGa1-xN alloys using supercells: An ab-initio approach

To investigate the transport properties in random alloys, it is important to model the alloy disorder using supercells. Though traditional methods like Virtual Crystal Approximation (VCA) are computationally efficient, the local disorder in the system is not accurately captured as artificial translational symmetry is imposed on the system. However, in the case of supercells, the error introduced by self-image interaction between the impurities is reduced and translational symmetry is explicitly imposed over larger length scales. In this work, we have investigated the Effective Phonon Dispersion (EPD) and transport properties, from first principle calculations using supercells in AlxGa1-xN alloy systems. Using our in-house developed code, the EPD of AlGaN is obtained and the individual modes are identified. Next, we discuss our in-house developed method to calculate low-field transport properties in supercells. First to validate our methods we have solved the Boltzmann Transport Equation using Rode method to compare the phonon limited mobility in the 4 atom GaN primitive cell and 12 atom GaN supercell. Using the same technique, we have investigated the low field transport in random AlxGa1-xN alloy systems. Our calculations show that along with alloy scattering, electron-phonon scattering may also play an important role at room temperature and high-temperature device operation. This technique opens up the path for calculating phonon-limited transport properties in random alloy systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Effective Phonon Dispersion of $β$- (Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_2$O$_3$ alloy semiconductor

In this work, the Effective Phonon Dispersion of $β$- (Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_2$O$_3$ alloy is investigated using the Phonon unfolding formalism. To capture the true randomness of the system, supercells are designed using the technique of special quasirandom structues. The phonon unfolding technique is then used to obtain the effective phonon dispersion (EPD) for aluminium fractions of 18.75 \% and 37.5 \% with respect to gallium atoms. The impact of disorder on the high frequency and DC dielectric constant is also investigated. The unfolding procedure was also applied to the dipole moment where the projection probability was used to obtain the IR spectra of the disordered system. The calculated properties gives us further insights to calculate the transport properties in these alloy semiconductors while capturing the true randomness of the system.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Sub-100 nm β-Ga2O3 MOSFET with 55 GHz fMAX and >100 V breakdown

This letter reports a highly scaled 90 nm gate length beta-Ga2O3 T-gate MOSFET with no current collapse and record power gain cut off frequency (fMAX). The epitaxial stack of 60 nm thin channel MOSFET was grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and highly doped (n++) contact regrowth was carried out by Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition (MOCVD) in the source/drain region. Maximum on current (IDS, MAX) of 160 mA/mm and transconductance (gm) around 36 mS/mm was measured at VDS= 10 V for LSD= 1.5 micrometer channel length. Transconductance is limited by higher channel sheet resistance (Rsheet). We observed no current collapse for both drain and gate lag measurement even at higher VDG,Q quiescent bias points. This is the first report of Ga2O3 FET showing no current collapse without any external passivation. Breakdown voltage around 125 V was reported for LGD= 1.2 micrometer. We extracted 27 GHz current gain cut off frequency (fT) and 55 GHz fMAX for 20 V drain bias. fMAX value mentioned here is the highest for Ga2O3 and the first demonstration of 55 GHz operation. fT. VBR product of 3.375 THz.V has been calculated which is comparable with state-of-art GaN HEMT. This letter suggests that Ga2O3 can be a suitable candidate for X-band application.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Electrical Characteristics of in situ Mg-doped beta-Ga2O3 Current-Blocking Layer for Vertical Devices

The lack of p-type doping has impeded the development of vertical gallium oxide (Ga2O3) devices. Current blocking layers (CBL) using implanted deep acceptors has been used to demonstrate vertical devices. This paper presents the first demonstration of in situ Mg-doped beta-Ga2O3 CBLs grown using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Device structures were designed with in-situ Mg doped layers with varied targeted Mg doping concentrations, which were calibrated by quantitative secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). The effectiveness of the CBL is characterized using temperature dependent current-voltage measurements using n-Mg-doped-n structures, providing crucial insight into the underlying mechanisms. To further validate the experimental results, a TCAD simulation is performed and the electrically active effective doping is found to be dependent on the Mg-doping density, offering a new perspective on the optimization of CBL performance. Breakdown measurements show a 3.4 MV/cm field strength. This study represents a significant step forward in the development of Ga2O3-based devices and paves the way for future advancements in this exciting field.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Simulation studies of Single Event Effects in Ga$_2$O$_3$ MOSFETs

In this article, we investigate the Single Events Effects (SEE) leading to Single Event Burnout (SEB) in $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ MOSFETs. Using Silvaco TCAD, 2D simulations were performed to understand the mechanism behind the SEB mechanism in lateral Ga$_2$O$_3$ MOSFETS. The high electric fields in the channel played a critical role leading to high impact generation rates and eventual SEB. To reduce the electric field in the channel, radiation hardened designs are then proposed with rounded gates and the use of a combination of high permittivity (k) dielectric with SiO$_2$. With HfO$_2$-SiO$_2$ dielectric combination, the SEB threshold of 550V at LET=10 MeV/mg/cm$^2$ is seen. However, to operate under extreme radiation conditions, a combination of very high-k dielectric material BaTiO$_3$ with SiO$_2$ is proposed. Using the radiation hardened design, SEB thresholds up to 1000 V for LET=75 MeV/mg/cm$^2$ could be achieved which is higher than the state-of-the-art technology. The energy dissipated during the ion strike event is also calculated and it is observed that it is lower than that of SiC MOSFETs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Beta-Ga2O3 MOSFETs with near 50 GHz fMAX and 5.4 MV/cm average breakdown field

This letter reports high-performance $\mathrmβ Ga2O3 thin channel MOSFETs with T-gate and degenerately doped source/drain contacts regrown by MOCVD. Gate length scaling (LG= 160-200 nm) leads to a peak drain current (ID,MAX) of 285 mA/mm and peak trans-conductance (gm) of 52 mS/mm at 10 V drain bias with 23.5 Ohm mm on resistance (Ron). A low metal/n+ contact resistance of 0.078 Ohm mm was extracted from TLM measurement. Ron is dominated by interface resistance between channel and regrown layer. A gate-to-drain breakdown voltage of 192 V is measured for LGD = 355 nm resulting in average breakdown field (E_AVG) of 5.4 MV/cm. This E_AVG is the highest reported among all sub-micron gate length lateral FETs. RF measurements on 200 nm Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) passivated device shows a current gain cut off frequency (f_T) of 11 GHz and record power gain cut off frequency (f_MAX) of 48 GHz. The f_T.V_Br product is 2.11 THz.V for 192 V breakdown voltage. The switching figure of merit exceeds that of silicon and is comparable to mature wide-band gap devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Effective Electronic Structure of Monoclinic $β-(Al_xGa_{1-x})_2O_3$ alloy semiconductor

In this article, the electronic band structure $β-(Al_xGa_{1-x})_2O_3$ alloy system is calculated with $β-Ga_2O_3$ as the bulk crystal. The technique of band unfolding is implemented to obtain the effective bandstructure \textit{(EBS)} for aluminium fractions varying between 12.5\% and 62.5\% with respect to the gallium atoms. A 160 atom supercell is used to model the disordered system that is generated using the technique of special quasirandom structures which mimics the site correlation of a truly random alloy and reduces the configurational space that arises due to the vast enumeration of alloy occupation sites. The impact of the disorder is then evaluated on the electron effective mass and bandgap which is calculated under the generalized gradient approximation \textit{(GGA)}. The EBS of disordered systems gives an insight into the effect of the loss of translational symmetry on the band topology which manifests as band broadening and can be used to evaluate disorder induced scattering rates and electron lifetimes. This technique of band unfolding can be further extended to alloy phonon dispersion and subsequently phonon lifetimes can also be evaluated from the band broadening.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Full-band Monte Carlo simulation of two-dimensional electron gas in (Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_{2}$O$_{3}$/Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ heterostructures

$β$-Gallium Oxide (Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$) is an extensively investigated ultrawide-bandgap semiconductor for potential applications in power electronics and RF switching. The room temperature bulk electron mobility ($\sim$200 cm$^{2}$V$^{-1}$s$^{-1}$) is comparatively low and is limited by the 30 phonon modes originating from its 10-atom primitive cell. The theoretically calculated saturation velocity is 1-2$\times$10$^{7}$ cms$^{-1}$ which is comparable to GaN. The high field electron transport in the 2DEG is explored in this work based on the first principles calculated parameters. A self-consistent calculation on a given heterostructure design gives the confined eigenfunctions and eigenenergies. The intrasubband and the intersubband scattering rates are calculated based on the Fermi's golden rule considering LO phonon-plasmon screening. The high field characteristics are extracted from the full-band Monte Carlo simulation of heterostructures at 300 K. The motion of electrons in the 2DEG and the bulk is treated through an integrated Monte Carlo program which outputs the steady state zone population, transient dynamics and the velocity-field curves for a few heterostructure designs. The critical field for saturation does not change significantly from bulk values, however an improved peak velocity is calculated at a higher 2DEG density. The velocity at low 2DEG densities is impacted by the antiscreening of LO phonons which plays an important role in shaping the zone population. A comparison with the experimental measurements is also carried out and possible origins of the discrepancies with experiments is discussed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

4.4 kV $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ Power MESFETs with Lateral Figure of Merit exceeding 100 MW/cm$^2$

Field-plated (FP) depletion-mode MOVPE-grown $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ lateral MESFETs are realized with superior reverse breakdown voltages and ON currents. A sandwiched SiN$_x$ dielectric field plate design was utilized that prevents etching-related damage in the active region and a deep mesa-etching was used to reduce reverse leakage. The device with L$_{GD}$ = 34.5 $μ$m exhibits an ON current (I$_{DMAX}$) of 56 mA/mm, a high I$_{ON}$/I$_{OFF}$ ratio $>$ 10$^8$ and a very low reverse leakage until catastrophic breakdown at $\sim$ 4.4kV. The highest measurable V$_{BR}$ recorded was 4.57 kV (L$_{GD}$ = 44.5 $μ$m). An LFOM of 132 MW/cm$^2$ was calculated for a V$_{BR}$ of $\sim$ 4.4 kV. The reported results are the first $>$ 4kV-class Ga$_2$O$_3$ transistors to surpass the theoretical FOM of Silicon. These are also the highest I$_{DMAX}$ and lowest R$_{ON}$ values achieved simultaneously for any $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ device with V$_{BR}$ $>$ 4kV to date. This work highlights that high breakdown voltages (V$_{BR}$), high lateral figure of merit (LFOM) and high ON currents can be achieved simultaneously in $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ lateral transistors.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2020

Temperature Dependent Current Dispersion Study in $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ FETs Using Sub-Microsecond Pulsed IV Characteristics

A comprehensive study of drain current dispersion effects in $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ FETs has been done using DC, pulsed and RF measurements. Both virtual gate effect in the gate-drain access region and interface traps under the gate are most plausible explanations for the experimentally observed pulsed current dispersion and high temperature threshold voltage shift respectively. Unpassivated devices show significant current dispersion between DC and pulsed IV response due to gate lag effect characterized by time constants in the range of 400~$μs$ to 600~$μs$. An activation energy of 99~$meV$ is estimated from temperature dependent Arrhenius plots. A variable range hopping based slow transport in conjunction with the observed shallow trap level is attributed to the observed slow transient response of drain current with respect to time. Reactive ion etching step during the device fabrication is most likely responsible for introducing the traps. Effect of traps can be minimized by using surface passivation layers, in this case, Silicon Nitride which shows significant improvement in the current dispersion and RF cutoff frequency. This work demonstrates the detrimental effect the traps can have on the current dispersion which significantly limits the high frequency operation of the device.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Low field transport calculations in 2-dimensional electron gas in $\mathrm{β\mbox{-}(Al_{x}Ga_{1-x})_{2}O_{3}/Ga_{2}O_{3}}$ heterostructures

$\mathrmβ$-Gallium oxide ($\mathrm{β\mbox{-}Ga_{2}O_{3}}$) is an emerging widebandgap semiconductor for potential application in power and RF electronics applications. Initial theoretical calculation on a 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in $\mathrm{β\mbox{-}(Al_{x}Ga_{1-x})_{2}O_{3}/Ga_{2}O_{3}}$ heterostructures show the promise for high speed transistors. However, the experimental results do not get close to the predicted mobility values. In this work, We perform more comprehensive calculations to study the low field 2DEG transport properties in the $\mathrm{β\mbox{-}(Al_{x}Ga_{1-x})_{2}O_{3}/Ga_{2}O_{3}}$ heterostructure. A self-consistent Poisson-Schrodinger simulation of heterostructure is used to obtain the subband energies and wavefunctions. The electronic structure, assuming confinement in a particular direction, and the phonon dispersion is calculated based on first principle methods under DFT and DFPT framework. Phonon confinement is not considered for the sake of simplicity. The different scattering mechanisms that are included in the calculation are phonon (polar and non-polar), remote impurity, alloy and interface-roughness. We include the full dynamic screening polar optical phonon screening. We report the temperature dependent low-field electron mobility.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2020

Low field electron mobility in $α-Ga_{2}O_{3}$: An ab-initio approach

The $α$ phase of $Ga_{2}O_{3}$ is an ultra-wideband semiconductor with potential power electronics applications. In this work, we calculate the low field electron mobility in $α-Ga_{2}O_{3}$ from first principles. The 10 atom unit cell contributes to 30 phonon modes and the effect of each mode is taken into account for the transport calculation. The phonon dispersion and the Raman spectrum are calculated under the density functional perturbation theory formalism and compared with experiments. The IR strength is calculated from the dipole moment at the $Γ$ point of the Brillouin zone. The electron-phonon interaction elements (EPI) on a dense reciprocal space grid is obtained using the Wannier interpolation technique. The polar nature of the material is accounted for by interpolating the non-polar and polar EPI elements independently as the localized nature of the Wannier functions are not suitable for interpolating the long-range polar interaction elements. For polar interaction the full phonon dispersion is taken into account. The electron mobility is then calculated including the polar, non-polar and ionized impurity scattering.

physics.app-ph↗