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.