CRYOGENICALLY-COOLED INSB JFET

MANY MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUITS USED IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE INFRARED SYSTEMS ARE REQUIRED TO OPERATE AT CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURES AND BE LOW NOISE AT THE SAME TIME. THESE APPLICATIONS DEMAND INNOVATIONS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW AND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR INSB JUNCTION-FIELD-EFFECT TRANSISTOR (JFET) DEVICES AND CIRCUITS IS PROPOSED. IT IS BASED ON MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY (MBE) OF INSB LAYERS ON INSBAND SAPPHIRE SUBSTRATES. THE N- AND P-LAYERS CAN BE MADE BY IN-SITU DOPING, THUS THE JFET STRUCTURE CAN BE FABRICATEDREADILY BY MBE. THE RESULTANT INSB JFET DEVICES CAN BE OPERATED AT A TEMPERATURE BELOW 2K AND ARE CAPABLE OF EXTREMELY LOW NOISE (< 1 NANOVOLT/HZ(1/2), TWO HIGHLY DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS FOR ELECTRONICS FOR INFRARED (IR) SENSORS IN THE LONG WAVE-LENGTH IR (LWIR) SPECTRAL REGION. THE AIM OF PHASE I IS TO ESTABLISH THE LOW TEMPERATURE MODEL FOR INSB JFET AND TO DEFINE THE MBE PROCESSES AND REQUIREMENTS TO FABRICATE THE MULTIEPILAYER STRUCTURE.