A simplification method for capacitance models in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors under large drain voltage using channel analysis

This article analyzes the bias dependence of gate‐drain capacitance (C_gd) and gate‐source capacitance (C_gs) in the AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors under a high drain‐to‐source voltage (V_ds) from the perspective of channel shape variation, and further simplifies C_gd and C_gs to be gate‐to‐source voltage (V_gs) dependent only at high V_ds. This method can significantly reduce the number of parameters to be fitted in C_gd and C_gs and therefore lower the difficulty of model development. The Angelov capacitance models are chosen for verifying the effectiveness of simplification. Good agreement between simulated and measured small‐signal S‐parameters, large‐signal power sweep, and power contours comprehensively proves the accuracy of this simplification method.     

Analysis of the abnormal resistance in AlGaN/GaN heterostructure＇s ohmic contact tests

Ti/Al/Ti/Au and Ti/Al/Ni/Au ohmic contacts were fabricated on AlGaN/GaN heterostructure under different temperatures of rapid thermal processing （RTP）. Since abnormal resistance values were observed during the contact resistance testing,the surface morphology and contact borders of the samples were analyzed to determine the physical mechanism. Such abnormal phenomenon is found to originate from cracking of the AlGaN layer during RTP,flowing of Ti/Al metallic liquid along the crevices,and continuous reaction of the metallic liquid with AlGaN/GaN. Such processes result in abnormal conduction channels. The possible mechanism of the crevice formation was discussed,and the possible solutions to avoid the crevices were proposed.     

High power GaN‐HEMT SPDT switches for microwave applications

In this article, the design, fabrication, and on‐wafer test of X‐Band and 2–18 GHz wideband high‐power SPDT MMIC switches in AlGaN/GaN technology are presented. The switches have demonstrated state‐of‐the‐art performance and RF fabrication yield better than 65%. Linear and power measurements for different control voltages have been reported and an explanation of the dependence of the power performances on the control voltage is given. In particular, the X‐band switch exhibits a 0.4 dB compression level at 10 GHz when driven by a 38 dBm input signal. The wideband switch shows a compression level of 1 dB at an input drive higher than 38 dBm across the entire bandwidth. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2009.     

Impact of ZnO gate interfacial layer on piezoelectric response of AlGaN/GaN C-HEMT based ring gate capacitor

We report on a piezoelectric response investigation of AlGaN/GaN circular high electron mobility transistor (C-HEMT) based ring gate capacitor as a new stress sensor device to be potentially applied for dynamic high-pressure sensing. A ring gate capacitor of C-HEMT with an additional ZnO gate interfacial layer was used to measure the changes in the piezoelectric charge induced directly by the variation of piezoelectric polarization of both gate piezoelectric layers (AlGaN, ZnO) for harmonic loading at different excitation frequences. Our experimental results show that about 10 nm thick piezoelectric ZnO layer grown on ring gate/AlGaN interface of C-HEMT can yield almost a 60% increase in the piezoelectric detection sensitivity of the device due to its higher piezoelectric coefficient. A three-dimensional CoventorWare simulation is carried out to confirm the increase in the measured piezoelectric response of ZnO based ring gate capacitor of C-HEMT.     

Numerical Explanation of Slow Transients in an AlGaN/GaN HEMT

观察了AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件在短期应力后不同栅偏置下的一组漏极电流瞬态,发现瞬态的时间常数随栅偏压变化很小,据此判断这组瞬态由电子陷阱的释放引起.为了验证这个判断,采用数值仿真手段计算了上述瞬态.分别考虑了在器件中不同空间位置的电子陷阱,分析了应力和瞬态中相应的陷阱行为,对比和解释了仿真曲线与测量结果的异同.基于上述讨论,提出测量的瞬态可能是表面深陷阱和GaN层体陷阱的综合作用的结果.     

Structural properties of GaN grown on AlGaN/AlN stress mitigating layers on 100-mm Si (111) by ammonia molecular beam epitaxy

The structural properties of GaN grown on AlGaN/AlN stress mitigating layers on 100-mm diameter Si (111) substrate by ammonia molecular beam epitaxy have been reported. High resolution X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy have been used to study the influence of AlN thickness and AlGaN growth temperature on the quality of GaN. GaN grown on thicker AlN showed reduced dislocation density and lesser tensile strain. Three-dimensional growth regime was observed for GaN grown at lower AlGaN growth temperature while higher AlGaN growth temperature resulted in two-dimensional growth mode. The dislocation bending and looping at the AlGaN/AlN interface was found to have significant influence on the dislocation density and strain in the GaN layer. The evolution and interaction of threading dislocations play a major role in determining the quality and the strain states of GaN.     

氧气等离子体处理对AlGaN肖特基接触的影响

研究了不同的干法刻蚀以及氧气等离子体处理条件对AlGaN表面特性的影响。在合适的条件下,氧气等离子体处理可以使AlGaN表面发生氧化,并使肖特基接触的反向漏电流降低两个数量级,反向击穿电压也有显著提高。该方法简单易行,可应用于制备高性能的AlGaN／GaN HEMT器件。     

基于AlGaN/GaN HEMT的C波段混合集成功率合成放大器的设计

研制了一种基于AlGaN/GaN HEMT的功率合成技术的混合集成放大器电路.该电路包含4个10×120 μm的HEMT晶体管以及一个Wilkinson功率合成器和分配器.在偏置条件为VDS=40V,IDS=0.9A时,输出连续波饱和功率在5.4GHz达到41.4dBm,最大的PAE为32.54%,并且功率合成效率达到69%.     

GaN基HEMT微加速度计的压阻系数测试

介绍了GaN基HEMT微加速度计结构的设计、加工及测试过程,并对结果做出了分析。通过喇曼测试与ANSYS仿真软件相结合的方式进行应力测试分析,利用安捷伦4156C测试仪对GaN基HEMT进行不同应力状态及不同温度下IDS-VDS特性测试,并通过相关测试数据计算分析GaN基HEMT的压阻系数及其变化规律。结果表明:常温下GaN基HEMT的等效压阻系数为(2.47±0.04)×10-9Pa-1,高于Si的压阻系数(7.23±3.62)×10-10Pa-1。同时测试了HEMT在-40~50℃的输出特性,实验结果表明,HEMT饱和源漏电流随着温度的升高而下降。压阻系数具有负温度系数,且压阻系数随着温度的升高以226TPa-1/℃的速率减小。     

Load-pull measurement analysis of AlGaN/GaN HEMT taking into account number of gate fingers

This paper investigates load-pull measurement of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) at different numbers of gate fingers. Scalable small-signal models are extracted to analyze the relationship between each model''s parameters and the number of device''s gate fingers. The simulated S-parameters from the small-signal models are compared with the reflection coefficients measured from the load-pull measurement system at X-band frequencies of 8.8 and 10.4 GHz. The dependency between the number of device''s gate fingers and load-pull characterization is presented.