High-temperature transport properties of 2DEG in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Transport properties of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in fully strained and partially strain-relaxed Al_0.22Ga_0.78N/GaN heterostructures at temperatures from 300 to 680 K have been investigated by Hall effect measurements. The 2DEG mobility was found to decrease rapidly with increasing temperature at the initial stage and then decrease slowly as temperature is further increased. Those features indicate strongly that the 2DEG mobility is primarily limited by LO phonon scattering processes at high temperatures. Meanwhile, the calculated results show that more electrons transfer to the higher-order sub-bands with increasing temperature, and hence the effect of screening on LO phonon scattering is weakened and the alloy scattering of the AlGaN layer on the 2DEG becomes stronger. Thus variation of 2DEG occupation in different sub-bands with increasing temperature also decreases mobility of the 2DEG.