Publications

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A novel planar resonant tunneling transistor is demonstrated. The growth structure is similar to that of a double-barrier resonant tunneling diode (RTD), except for a fully two-dimensional (2D) emitter formed by a quantum well. Current is fed laterally into the emitter, and the 2D--2D resonant tunneling current is controlled by a surface gate. This unique device structure achieves figures-of-merit, i.e. peak current densities and peak voltages, approaching that of state-of-the-art RTDs. Most importantly, sensitive control of the peak current and voltage is achieved by gating of the emitter quantum well subband energy. This quantum tunneling transistor shows exceptional promise for ultra-high speed and multifunctional operation at room temperature.

A four-channel surface acoustic wave (SAW) chemical sensor array with associated RF electronics is monolithically integrated onto one GaAs IC. The sensor operates at 690 MHz from an on-chip SAW based oscillator and provides simple DC voltage outputs by using integrated phase detectors. This sensor array represents a significant advance in microsensor technology offering miniaturization, increased chemical selectivity, simplified system assembly, improved sensitivity, and inherent temperature compensation.

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors, which are sensitive to a variety of surface changes, have been widely used for chemical and physical sensing. The ability to control or compensate for the many surface forces has been instrumental in collecting valid data. In cases where it is not possible to neglect certain effects, such as frequency drift with temperature, methods such as the dual sensor technique have been utilized. This paper describes a novel use of a dual sensor technique, using two sensor materials, Quartz and GaAs, to separate out the contributions of mass and modulus of the frequency change during gas adsorption experiments. The large modulus change in the film calculated using this technique, and predicted by the Gassmann equation, provide a greater understanding of the challenges of SAW sensing.

Monolithic, integrated acoustic wave chemical microsensors are being developed on gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates. With this approach, arrays of microsensors and the high frequency electronic components needed to operate them reside on a single substrate, increasing the range of detectable analytes, reducing overall system size, minimizing systematic errors, and simplifying assembly and packaging. GaAs is employed because it is both piezoelectric, a property required to produce the acoustic wave devices, and a semiconductor with a mature microelectronics fabrication technology. Many aspects of integrated GaAs chemical sensors have been investigated, including: surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors; monolithic SAW delay line oscillators; GaAs application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) for sensor operation; a hybrid sensor array utilizing these ASICS; and the fully monolithic, integrated SAW array. Details of the design, fabrication, and performance of these devices are discussed. In addition, the ability to produce heteroepitaxial layers of GaAs and aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) makes possible micromachined membrane sensors with improved sensitivity compared to conventional SAW sensors. Micromachining techniques for fabricating flexural plate wave (FPW) and thickness shear mode (TSM) microsensors on thin GaAs membranes are presented and GaAs FPW delay line and TSM resonator performance is described.