Impact ionization in InAlAs/InGaAs/InAlAs HEMT's

The kink effect and excess gate current in InAlAs/InGaAs/InAlAs HEMT's have been linked to impact ionization in the high field region of the channel. In this letter, a relationship is established between experimentally measured excess gate current and the tunneling of holes from the quantum well formed in the channel. The channel hole current is then obtained as the quotient of the excess gate current to the gate-voltage-dependent transmission probability. This channel hole current follows the exponential dependence of the ionization constant on the inverse electric field.