半开态直流应力作用下AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管的失效机制分析

本文研究了半开态直流应力条件下,AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管的退化机制。应力实验后,器件的阈值电压电压正漂,栅漏串联电阻增大。利用数据拟合发现,沟道电流的退化量与阈值电压及栅漏串联电阻的变化量之间有密切的关系。分析表明,阈值电压的退化是引起饱和区沟道电流下降的主要因素,对于线性区电流,在应力开始的初始阶段,栅漏串联电阻的增大导致线性区电流的退化,随后沟道电流退化主要由阈值电压的退化引起。分析表明,在半开态应力作用下,栅泄露电流及热电子效应使得电子进入AlGaN层,被缺陷俘获,进而导致沟道电流退化。其中反向栅泄露电流中的电子被栅电极下AlGaN层内的缺陷俘获,导致阈值电压正漂;而热电子效应则使得栅漏串联区电阻增大。     

Investigation of the current collapse induced in InGaN back barrier AIGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

Current collapses were studied, which were observed in A1GaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors （HEMTs） with and without InGaN back barrier （BB） as a result of short-term bias stress. More serious drain current collapses were observed in InGaN BB A1GaN/GaN HEMTs compared with the traditional HEMTs. The results indicate that the defects and surface states induced by the InGaN BB layer may enhance the current collapse. The surface states may be the primary mechanism of the origination of current collapse in A1GaN/GaN HEMTs for short-term direct current stress.     

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors with selective area grown p-GaN gates

We report a selective area growth (SAG) method to define the p-GaN gate of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Compared with Schottky gate HEMTs, the SAG p-GaN gate HEMTs show more positive threshold voltage (V_th) and better gate control ability. The influence of Cp₂Mg flux of SAG p-GaN gate on the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs has also been studied. With the increasing Cp₂Mg from 0.16 μmol/min to 0.20 μmol/min, the V_th raises from -67 V to -37 V. The maximum transconductance of the SAG HEMT at a drain voltage of 10 V is 113.9 mS/mm while that value of the Schottky HEMT is 51.6 mS/mm. The SAG method paves a promising way for achieving p-GaN gate normally-off AlGaN/GaN HEMTs without dry etching damage.     

Thermal effects in AlGaN/GaN/Si high electron mobility transistors

Group III-nitride compounds are of increasing interest for designing high power and high temperature transistors. A considerable progress in the growth and process technology of these devices has been achieved. However, there are still limitations concerning particularly the lack of native substrates. Comparison of the AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors investigated favours the SiC substrate. Recently, encouraging results have been reported for AlGaN/GaN/Si. The crucial problem found in AlGaN/GaN transistors operating at high biases is the self-heating induced by high power dissipation in the active zone. The present work reports on a study of the self-heating in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs grown on Si(1 1 1). The electron-band parameters of the heterostructures have been calculated self-consistently by taking into account the piezoelectric and spontaneous polarizations. As an experiment support, direct-current characteristics of AlGaN/GaN/Si HEMTs have been used to derive the drain voltage-dependent temperature rise in the conductive channel. As has been found, the self-heating is relatively weak. An improvement in the electron transport is achieved by optimizing the epilayers and adjusting the electrode sizes at output of the transistors investigated.     

Influence of layer structure on performance of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors before and after passivation

Intentionally undoped and three different, doped layer structures are used to investigate properties of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) before and after SiN passivation. For unpassivated devices, the drain current, transconductance, cutoff frequency, and microwave output-power increase with increased doping level, in spite of an increase in the gate-leakage current. After passivation, an overall performance improvement of all devices occurs. The passivation-induced sheet charge decreases from 2×10¹² cm⁻² in undoped structures to ∼0.7×10¹² cm⁻² in higher doped structures and performance improvement with passivation is less pronounced for higher doped devices. However, the output power of unpassivated and passivated devices on higher doped structures is much higher than that on the undoped-passivated counter-part. These results underline an advantage of the doped layer structure for the preparation of high-performance AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.     

InGaN背势垒AlGaN/GaN HEMT中的电流崩塌研究

Current collapses were studied,which were observed in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) with and without InGaN back barrier(BB) as a result of short-term bias stress.More serious drain current collapses were observed in InGaN BB AlGaN/GaN HEMTs compared with the traditional HEMTs.The results indicate that the defects and surface states induced by the InGaN BB layer may enhance the current collapse.The surface states may be the primary mechanism of the origination of current collapse in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs for short-term direct current stress.     

多栅指AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件自热效应研究

Self-heating in multi-finger AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors(HEMTs) is investigated by measurements and modeling of device junction temperature under steady-state operation.Measurements are carried out using micro-Raman scattering to obtain the detailed and accurate temperature distribution of the device.The device peak temperature corresponds to the high field region at the drain side of gate edge.The channel temperature of the device is modeled using a combined electro-thermal model considering 2DEG transport characteristics and the Joule heating power distribution.The results reveal excellent correlation to the micro-Raman measurements, validating our model for the design of better cooled structures.Furthermore,the influence of layout design on the channel temperature of multi-finger AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is studied using the proposed electro-thermal model, allowing for device optimization.     

Effects of post-annealing on the passivation interface characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

We examined the effects of post-annealing in forming-gas ambient on the spin-on-dielectric (SOD)-buffered passivation as well as the conventional plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) Si₃N₄ passivation structure in association with the quantitative analysis of defects at the passivation interfaces of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). Before the annealing, the interface state densities (D_it) of the PECVD Si₃N₄ are one-order higher (10¹²–10¹³ cm⁻² eV⁻¹) than those of the SOD SiO_x (10¹¹–10¹² cm⁻² eV⁻¹) as derived from C–V characterization. Clear reduction in D_it from the PECVD Si₃N₄ is extracted to a level of 10¹¹–10¹² cm⁻² eV⁻¹ with a stronger absorption from Si–N peak in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra after the post-annealing. On the other hand, negligible difference in D_it value is obtained from the SOD SiO_x. In this paper we propose that much lower measurement levels (~156 mA/mm) before the annealing and substantial recovery (~13% increase) after the annealing in maximum drain current density of the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with Si₃N₄ passivations are due to the original higher density before the annealing and greater reduction in D_it of the PECVD Si₃N₄ after the annealing. Significant reduction after the annealing in gate–drain leakage current (from ~10⁻³ to ~10⁻⁵ A, 100-μm gate width) of the HEMTs with the Si₃N₄ passivation is also supposed to be attributed to the reduction of D_it.     

Implications of gate-edge electric field in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors during OFF-state degradation

Gate degradation in high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) under OFF-state stress results from the high electric field near the gate edge. We investigate the evolution of this field over time in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs upon OFF-state stress using a combination of electroluminescence (EL) microscopy and spectroscopy. EL analysis suggests that the electric field at the sites of generated surface defects is lowered after the stress, with greater lowering at higher stress temperature. The ON-state EL spectrum remains unchanged after the stress, suggesting that the regions without generated defects are not affected during the degradation. A finite element model is employed to further demonstrate the effect of surface defects on the local electric field. A correlation is observed for the spatial distribution of the EL intensity before and after the generation of leakage sites, which provides a prescreening method to predict possible early failures on a device.     

Photo-ionization spectroscopy of traps in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors

Four different layer structures are used to study deep-level traps in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) by photo-ionization spectroscopy. The structures grown on sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition show nearly identical Hall data. However, the direct current (DC) performance of HEMTs with identical geometry is found to differ strongly. In all structures investigated, two distinct defect levels, namely, at 2.84–2.94 eV and 3.24–3.28 eV, were found from the fits of the photo-ionization cross-sectional data. Additionally, different trap concentrations can be deduced. These are in good correlation with the different transconductance and drain current measured. It is assumed that the defect levels observed are related to the AlGaN surface.     

A model for the critical voltage for electrical degradation of GaN high electron mobility transistors

It has recently been postulated that GaN high electron mobility transistors under high voltage stress degrade as a result of defect formation induced by excessive mechanical stress that is introduced through the inverse piezoelectric effect. This mechanism is characterized by a critical voltage beyond which irreversible degradation takes place. In order to improve the electrical reliability of GaN HEMTs, it is important to understand and model this degradation process. In this paper, we formulate a first-order model for mechanical stress and elastic energy induced by the inverse piezoelectric effect in GaN HEMTs which allows the computation of the critical voltage for degradation in these devices.     

The effect of external stress on the electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

The electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors under the application of uniform in-plane tensile and compressive stress were measured. The results demonstrate the change of the drain–source I_ds–V_ds characteristics as a function of the external stress. The output current at V_ds = 10 V increases linearly with the stress with the slope about 3 × 10⁻⁶ A MPa⁻¹. It is associated with the piezoelectric effect and kink effect. Moreover, the magnitude of the kink effect is found to be affected by the stress. It displays a linear changing trend with the slope of 3.3 × 10⁻⁴ mS MPa⁻¹ within the stress level. The energy band structure is suggested to be responsible for the dependence of the kink effect on the stress.     

Breakdown voltage and current collapse of F-plasma treated AIGaN/GaN HEMTs

The breakdown and the current collapse characteristics of high electron mobility transistors （HEMTs） with a low power F-plasma treatment process are investigated. With the increase of F-plasma treatment time, the saturation current decreases, and the threshold voltage shifts to the positive slightly. Through analysis of the Schottky characteristics of the devices with different F-plasma treatment times, it was found that an optimal F-plasma treatment time of 120 s obviously reduced the gate reverse leakage current and improved the breakdown voltage of the devices, but longer F-plasma treatment time than 120 s did not reduce gate reverse leakage current due to plasma damage. The current collapse characteristics of the HEMTs with F-plasma treatment were evaluated by dual pulse measurement at different bias voltages and no obvious deterioration of current collapse were found after low power F-plasma treatment.     

导致 AlGaN/GaN HEMT电学性能失效的内外因素

本文研究了不同偏置条件对AlGaN/GaN HEMT电学性能的影响。电场被认为是导致AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件电学性能退化的外因,陷阱则是内因。AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件的退化有两部分组成：可恢复退化与不可恢复退化。AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件中原本存在的陷阱与新产生的陷阱导致可恢复退化。     

Unpassivated GaN/AlGaN/GaN power high electron mobility transistors with dispersion controlled by epitaxial layer design

In this paper, a novel GaN/AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is discussed. The device uses a thick GaN-cap layer (∼250 nm) to reduce the effect of surface potential fluctuations on device performance. Devices without Si₃N₄ passivation showed no dispersion with 200-ns-pulse-width gate-lag measurements. Saturated output-power density of 3.4 W/mm and peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 32% at 10 GHz (V_DS=+15 V) were achieved from unpassivated devices on sapphire substrates. Large gate-leakage current and low breakdown voltage prevented higher drain-bias operation and are currently under investigation.     

AlGaN/GaN HEMT高场应力退化及紫外光辐照的研究

采用不同的应力偏压发现器件特性的下降程度随应力偏置电压的增大而增大.经过3×104s 40V高场应力后,蓝宝石衬底 AlGaN/GaN HEMT饱和漏电流下降5.2%,跨导下降7.6%.从器件直流参数的下降分析了应力后的特性退化现象并与连续直流扫描电流崩塌现象进行了对比,同时观察了紫外光照对应力后器件特性退化的恢复作用.直流扫描电流崩塌现象在紫外光照下迅速消除,但是紫外光照不能恢复高场应力造成的特性退化.     

蓝宝石衬底上Ka波段AlN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管

We report the DC and RF characteristics of AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) with the gate length of 100 nm on sapphire substrates. The device exhibits a maximum drain current density of 1.29 A/mm and a peak transconductance of 440 m S/mm. A current gain cutoff frequency and a maximum oscillation frequency of 119 GHz and 155 GHz have been obtained, respectively. Furthermore, the large signal load pull characteristics of the AlN/GaN HEMTs were measured at 29 GHz. An output power density of 429 m W/mm has been demonstrated at a drain bias of 10 V. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the earliest demonstration of power density at the Ka band for Al N/Ga N HEMTs in the domestic, and also a high frequency of load-pull measurements for Al N/Ga N HEMTs.     

AlGaN/GaN HEMT高场应力退化及紫外光辐照的研究

采用不同的应力偏压发现器件特性的下降程度随应力偏置电压的增大而增大.经过3×104s 40V高场应力后,蓝宝石衬底 AlGaN/GaN HEMT饱和漏电流下降5.2%,跨导下降7.6%.从器件直流参数的下降分析了应力后的特性退化现象并与连续直流扫描电流崩塌现象进行了对比,同时观察了紫外光照对应力后器件特性退化的恢复作用.直流扫描电流崩塌现象在紫外光照下迅速消除,但是紫外光照不能恢复高场应力造成的特性退化.