Impact-ionization-induced noise in InGaAs-based 0.1-mu m-gate HEMTs

Contribution of the impact ionization to the noise characteristics in InGaA s-based HEMTs was investigated by measuring the drain noise current and the electroruminescence (EL). In the measured spectral density of the drain no ise current the 1/f noise becomes more significant at larger drain-bias vol tage. Drain- and gate-bias-voltage dependencies of the 1/f noise intensity were similar to those of the EL data. The similarity in the bias-voltage de pendence provides the first experimental evidence for contribution of the i mpact-ionization-induced holes to the 1/f noise. Furthermore an expression for the relation between the concentration of the holes and the 1/f noise i ntensity was derived. The expression was consistent with the measured resul t. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.