Remarkable Reduction of On-Resistance by Ion Implantation in GaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMTs With Low Gate Leakage Current

We demonstrate Si ion-implanted GaN/AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors with extremely low gate leakage current and low source resistance without any recess etching process. The source/drain (S/D) regions were formed using Si ion implantation into undoped GaN/AlGaN/GaN on sapphire substrate. Using ion implantation into S/D regions with an energy of 80 keV, the performances were significantly improved. On-resistance decreased from 26.2 to 4.3 Omega^ldrmm. Saturation drain current and maximum transconductance increased from 284 to 723 mA/mm and from 48 to 147 mS/mm.     

AlGaN/GaN HEMTs With Thin InGaN Cap Layer for Normally Off Operation

AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with a thin InGaN cap layer have been proposed to implement the normally off HEMTs. The key idea is to employ the polarization-induced field in the InGaN cap layer, by which the conduction band is raised, which leads to the normally off operation. The fabricated HEMT with an In_0.2Ga_0.8N cap layer with a thickness of 5 nm showed normally off operation with a threshold voltage of 0.4 V and a maximum transconductance of 85 mS/mm for the device with a 1.9-mum-long gate. By etching off the In_0.2Ga_0.8N cap layer at the access region using gate electrode as an etching mask, the maximum transconductance has increased from 85 to 130 mS/mm due to a reduction of the parasitic source resistance.     

具有低欧姆接触电阻的高性能AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件研制

研究了AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件Ti/Al/Ti/Au四层金属结构欧姆接触的形成过程.通过系统研究退火条件获得了较低的欧姆接触电阻,实现了10-7Ω·cm2的欧姆接触率,并在此基础上对AlGaN/GaN HEMT欧姆接触形成机理进行了深入讨论.通过器件工艺的优化,研制了高性能的AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件.栅宽40μm的器件跨导达到250mS/mm,fT达到70GHz;栅宽0.8mm的功率器件电流密度达到1.07A/mm(Vg=0.5V),Vds=30V时,8GHz工作频率下(在片测试)器件的输出功率为32.5dBm(1.6W),输出功率密度达到2.14W/mm,功率增益为12.7dB.     

具有低欧姆接触电阻的高性能AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件研制

研究了AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件Ti/Al/Ti/Au四层金属结构欧姆接触的形成过程.通过系统研究退火条件获得了较低的欧姆接触电阻,实现了10-7Ω·cm2的欧姆接触率,并在此基础上对AlGaN/GaN HEMT欧姆接触形成机理进行了深入讨论.通过器件工艺的优化,研制了高性能的AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件.栅宽40μm的器件跨导达到250mS/mm,fT达到70GHz;栅宽0.8mm的功率器件电流密度达到1.07A/mm(Vg=0.5V),Vds=30V时,8GHz工作频率下(在片测试)器件的输出功率为32.5dBm(1.6W),输出功率密度达到2.14W/mm,功率增益为12.7dB.     

Deep-Submicrometer AlGaN/GaN HEMTs With Slant Field Plates

Deep-submicrometer AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with integrated slant field plates have been fabricated. Simulation showed this technology had the ability to minimize both the dc-RF dispersion and parasitic capacitance. Prototype device results demonstrated an excellent millimeter-wave power density of 4.9 W/mm with a power-added efficiency of 45% at 30 GHz at a drain bias of 30 V.      

Current Collapse and High-Electric-Field Reliability of Unpassivated GaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Long-term ON-state and OFF-state high-electric-field stress results are presented for unpassivated GaN/AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors on SiC substrates. Because of the thin GaN cap layer, devices show minimal current-collapse effects prior to high-electric-field stress, despite the fact that they are not passivated. This comes at the price of a relatively high gate-leakage current. Under the assumption that donor-like electron traps are present within the GaN cap, two-dimensional numerical device simulations provide an explanation for the influence of the GaN cap layer on current collapse and for the correlation between the latter and the gate-leakage current. Both ON-state and OFF-state stresses produce simultaneous current-collapse increase and gate-leakage-current decrease, which can be interpreted to be the result of gate-drain surface degradation and reduced gate electron injection. This study shows that although the thin GaN cap layer is effective in suppressing surface-related dispersion effects in virgin devices, it does not, per se, protect the device from high-electric-field degradation, and it should, to this aim, be adopted in conjunction with other technological solutions like surface passivation, prepassivation surface treatments, and/or field-plate gate     

High Breakdown Voltage Achieved on AlGaN/GaN HEMTs With Integrated Slant Field Plates

A self-aligned “slant-field-plate” technology is presented as an improvement over the discrete multiple field plates for high breakdown voltage AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Devices were tested in Fluorinert to eliminate the breakdown of air, which was identified to limit the breakdown voltage in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. A single integrated field plate, which is self-aligned with the gate, is shown to support more than a kilovolt breakdown voltage ($V_ br$up to 1900 V was measured with Fluorinert). Devices made with this technology show a good large signal-frequency behavior. Various issues regarding breakdown measurements and interpretation of measurement results are presented.     

High-performance E-mode AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN high electron-mobility transistors have been fabricated with a gate length of 160 nm. The use of gate recess combined with a fluorine-based surface treatment under the gate produced devices with a threshold voltage of +0.1 V. The combination of very high transconductance (> 400 mS/mm) and low gate leakage allows unprecedented output current levels in excess of 1.2 A/mm. The small signal performance of these enhancement-mode devices shows a record current cutoff frequency (f/sub T/) of 85 GHz and a power gain cutoff frequency (f/sub max/) of 150 GHz.     

AlGaN/GaN共栅共源HEMTs器件

研究了蓝宝石衬底AlGaN／GaN共栅共源器件的特性。该器件包括栅长0．8μm共源器件与栅长1μm的共栅器件。研究表明,共栅共源器件的第二栅压对的器件饱和电流与跨导有明显的调制作用,容易实现功率增益控制。与共源器件相比,共栅共源器件在微波特性上fT大约9GHz,比共源器件稍小,但是具有较低的反馈,显著增加的功率资用增益及较高的端口阻抗,与共源器件相比,稳定性更好,可以避免振荡的产生,结合GaN的高功率特性GaN共栅共源器件非常适合微波频段宽频大功率领域的应用。     

Temperature-dependent nonlinearities in GaN/AlGaN HEMTs

Temperature-dependent nonlinearities of GaN/AlGaN HEMTs are reported. The large-signal device model of the transistor is obtained by using a physics-based analysis. The model parameters are obtained as functions of bias voltages and temperature. The analysis of the device has been carried out using a time-domain technique. f_max for a 0.23 μm×100 μm Al_0.13Ga_0.87N/GaN FET is calculated as 69 GHz at 300 K, while at 500 K, f_max decreases to 30 GHz, which are in agreement with the experimental data within 7% error. f_max as obtained from calculated unilateral gain, decreases monotonically with increasing temperature. For shorter gate lengths irrespective of the operating temperature f_max is less sensitive to bias voltage scaling. For longer gate length devices, f_max becomes less sensitive to the bias voltage scaling at elevated temperatures. 1-dB compression point (P_1-dB ) at 4 GHz for a 1 μm×500 μm Al_0.15Ga_0.85N/GaN FET is 13 dBm at 300 K. At 500 K, P_1-dB decreases to 2.5 dBm for the same operating frequency. Similar results for output referred third intercept point (OIP3) are reported for different gate length devices     

Effect of Gate Leakage in the Subthreshold Characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

This letter studies the effect of gate leakage on the subthreshold slope and ON/OFF current ratio of AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). We found a strong correlation between the gate leakage current and the transistor subthreshold characteristics: the lower the gate leakage, the higher the ON/OFF ratio and the steeper the subthreshold slope. To improve the subthreshold characteristics in GaN HEMTs, the gate leakage current was reduced with an $hbox{O}_{2}$ plasma treatment prior to the gate metallization. The $hbox{O}_{2}$ plasma treatment effectively reduces the gate leakage current by more than four orders of magnitude, it increases the ON/OFF ratio to more than seven orders of magnitude and the improved AlGaN/GaN HEMT shows a nearly ideal subthreshold slope of 64 mV/dec.      

碳致深能级引起的AlGaN/GaN HEMT电流崩塌现象

AlGaN/GaN HEMT良好的功率特性虽然被大量报导,但其电流崩塌现象仍是一个令人困扰的问题,作者通过实验证明了导致其电流崩塌的一个因素.两个AlGaN/GaN样片被分别放在纯氮气和掺碳的氮气气氛中快速退火,利用XPS证明了后者中的碳元素含量远远大于前者.比较二者的I-V特性曲线,可发现碳杂质的引入可使AlGaN/GaN HEMT电流崩塌程度大大增加.分析表明:由碳杂质引入导致的深能级使得负栅压下俘获沟道中的载流子在正栅压下不能立刻释放,从而引起AlGaN/GaN HEMT中的电流崩塌现象.     

Correlation Between DC–RF Dispersion and Gate Leakage in Deeply Recessed GaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Employing deeply recessed GaN/AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors, we experimentally demonstrate the correlation between the DC-RF dispersion and the gate leakage current. It was found that both the DC-RF dispersion and the gate leakage are strongly affected by surface charging. The impact of surface charging can be controlled by using GaN/AlGaN/GaN structures with varied GaN cap thickness. In the absence of field plates, the tradeoff between the DC-RF dispersion and the gate leakage can be compromised by choosing a proper GaN cap thickness. Our optimum epistructure design yields an output power density of 5.6 W/mm with an associated power added efficiency of 72% at 28-V bias and 4-GHz frequency. The gate leakage current is as low as 30 muA/mm at up to 40-V gate-drain bias.     

AlGaN/GaN HEMT电流崩塌效应研究进展

简要回顾了 Al Ga N/Ga N HEMT器件电流崩塌效应研究的进展 ,着重阐述了虚栅模型、应力模型等几种解释电流崩塌效应形成机理的模型和器件钝化、生长盖帽层等减小电流崩塌效应的措施。     

掺杂AlGaN/GaN HEMT电流崩塌效应研究

对不同掺杂浓度AlGaN/GaN HEMTs施加直流偏置应力,研究掺杂AlGaN/GaN HEMTs电流崩塌效应.实验表明,掺杂AlGaN势垒层对器件电流崩塌效应有明显的抑制作用,随着掺杂浓度增加,掺杂对电流崩塌效应的抑制作用越显著.这是因为对于掺杂AlGaN/GaN HEMT,表面态俘获电子将耗尽掺杂AlGaN层,从而能对2DEG起屏蔽作用.AlGaN体内杂质电离后留下正电荷也能进一步屏蔽表面态对沟道2DEG的影响.     

栅脉冲下AlGaN/GaN HEMT电流崩塌效应研究

源于AlGaN/GaNHEMT器件的大量测试分析发现,栅脉冲条件下漏极电流比直流情况下减小了47%;随着信号频率的改变,漏极电流按μnCoxW[α (0.13 0.64f)VGS (0.13 0.32 f)VGS2](VGS-Vth)2/L的规律变化;脉冲信号宽度对漏电流崩塌影响较小.基于实验结果的理论分析认为,电子从栅极注入到栅漏之间并被表面态所俘获,在沟道中形成增加的耗尽层,使得沟道二维电子气浓度减小,从而导致形成电流崩塌效应的主要原因之一.该结论有助于AlGaN HEMT器件脉冲条件下电流崩塌效应理论解释和器件应用.     

等离子体刻蚀凹栅槽影响AlGaN/GaN HEMT栅电流的机理

对等离子体干法刻蚀形成的凹栅槽结构AlGaN/GaN HEMTs肖特基电流增加的机理进行了研究.实验表明,凹栅槽结构AIGaN/GaN HEMTs肖特基栅电流增加一个数量级以上,击穿电压有一定程度的下降.利用AFM和XPS的方法分析AlGaN表面,等离子体干法刻蚀增加了AlGaN表面粗糙度,甚至出现部分尖峰状突起,增大了栅金属与AlGaN的接触面积;另一方面,等离子体轰击使AlGaN表面出现一定量的N空位,相当于栅金属与AlGaN接触界面处出现n型掺杂层,使肖特基结的隧道效应加强,降低了肖特基势垒.由此表明,AlGaN表面粗糙度的增加以及一定量的N空位出现是引起栅电流急剧增大的根本原因.     

等离子体刻蚀凹栅槽影响AlGaN/GaN HEMT栅电流的机理

对等离子体干法刻蚀形成的凹栅槽结构AlGaN/GaN HEMTs肖特基电流增加的机理进行了研究.实验表明,凹栅槽结构AIGaN/GaN HEMTs肖特基栅电流增加一个数量级以上,击穿电压有一定程度的下降.利用AFM和XPS的方法分析AlGaN表面,等离子体干法刻蚀增加了AlGaN表面粗糙度,甚至出现部分尖峰状突起,增大了栅金属与AlGaN的接触面积;另一方面,等离子体轰击使AlGaN表面出现一定量的N空位,相当于栅金属与AlGaN接触界面处出现n型掺杂层,使肖特基结的隧道效应加强,降低了肖特基势垒.由此表明,AlGaN表面粗糙度的增加以及一定量的N空位出现是引起栅电流急剧增大的根本原因.     

High-power polarization-engineered GaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMTs without surface passivation

In this paper, a high-power GaN/AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) has been demonstrated. A thick cap layer has been used to screen surface states and reduce dispersion. A deep gate recess was used to achieve the desired transconductance. A thin SiO/sub 2/ layer was deposited on the drain side of the gate recess in order to reduce gate leakage current and improve breakdown voltage. No surface passivation layer was used. A breakdown voltage of 90 V was achieved. A record output power density of 12 W/mm with an associated power-added efficiency (PAE) of 40.5% was measured at 10 GHz. These results demonstrate the potential of the technique as a controllable and repeatable solution to decrease dispersion and produce power from GaN-based HEMTs without surface passivation.