Source-drain scaling of ion-implanted InAs/AlSb HEMTs

We report on the lateral scaling of true planar InAs/AlSb high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) based on ion implantation for device isolation. When reducing the source drain distance, d
_sd
, from 2.5 μm to 1 μm, the HEMTs showed up to 56% higher maximum drain current, 23% higher peak transconductance and f
_T
of 185 GHz (+32%). A trade-off in the lateral scaling is needed due to increased gate leakage current and pinch-off degradation for d
_sd
below 1.5 μm. The ability to withstand oxidation of the InAs/AlSb heterostructure makes the planar technology based on ion implantation extremely promising for MMIC integration of InAs/AlSb HEMTs.