Ultrafast characterization of in-plane-gate field-effect transistors: parasitics in laterally gated transistors

In-plane-gate field-effect transistors are probed by femtosecond electrooptic sampling. Ultrafast response of the transistors is dominated by a displacement current induced by parasitic gate-drain capacitance. Intrinsic and parasitic gate-drain capacitances of various transistor structures are obtained from displacement-current characteristics and are in quantitative agreement with the calculation of planar capacitances. Intrinsic gate-drain capacitances are in the order of 100 aF, while parasitic gate-drain capacitances are between 1.7 and 4.8 fF, more than ten times that of intrinsic gate-drain capacitances. Reduction in parasitic capacitance by a factor of two is achieved by means of grounded shields and is confirmed by calculation. The grounded-shields screen parasitic electric fields and transform parasitic coupling into a part of the waveguide coupling. This reduction in parasitic capacitance is the first demonstration that the parasitic field effect is controlled artificially by nanometre-scale device technology.     

The single-mode rate equations for semiconductor lasers with thermal effects

A mathematical model describing the coupling of electrical,optical and thermal effects in semiconductor lasers is introduced.Numerical and asymptotic solutions are derived, including expressionsfor key physical quantities such as the initial time delay,the frequency of spike oscillation and the temperature rise,together with its influence on the photon density, the electronconcentration and the threshold current. The consequences ofthermal effects in reducing efficiency are thus quantified.