GaN and AlGaN high-voltage rectifiers grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition

In this paper, we report the study of the electrical characteristics of GaN and AlGaN vertical p-i-n junctions and Schottky rectifiers grown on both sapphire and SiC substrates by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. For GaN p-i-n rectifiers grown on SiC with a relatively thin “i” region of 2 μm, a breakdown voltage over 400 V, and forward voltage as low as 4.5 V at 100 A/cm² are exhibited for a 60-μm-diameter device. A GaN Schottky diode with a 2-μm-thick undoped layer exhibits a blocking voltage in excess of ∼230 V at a reverse-leakage current density below 1 mA/cm², and a forward-voltage drop of 3.5 V at a current density of 100 A/cm². It has been found that with the same device structure and process approach, the leakage current of a device grown on a SiC substrate is much lower than a device grown on a sapphire substrate. The use of Mg ion implantation for p-guard rings as planar-edge terminations in mesageometry GaN Schottky rectifiers has also been studied.     

Breakdown voltage analysis for the new RESURF AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

This paper demonstrates that the depletion process for AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility tran-sistors(HEMTs)is different than that for silicon power devices by analyzing active region depletion.Based on the special breakdown principle that occurs in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs,we propose a new reduced surface field AlGaN/GaN HEMT with a double low-density drain(LDD)and a positively charged region near the drain to optimize the surface electric field and increase the breakdown voltage.In this structure,two negative charge regions with different doses are introduced into the polarization AlGaN layer to form a double LDD and decrease the high electric field near the gate by depleting two-dimensional electron gas.A positively charged region is added to the electrode near the drain to decrease the high electric field peak at the drain edge.By applying ISE(integrated systems engineering)simulation software,we verify that the virtual gate effect occurs in the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.The breakdown voltage is improved from 257 V in the conventional structure to 550 V in the proposed structure.     

双轴应变下GaN有效质量的计算及其对迁移率的影响

通过计算双轴应变下氮化镓的电子能带结构,给出了GaN有效质量与应变的变化关系。在弛豫时间近似的条件下,这种关系决定了双轴应变AlGaN/GaN中二维电子气(2DEG)的迁移率的改变。在其他物理参量不变的情况下,这种二维电子气迁移率将随着张应变的增加而增加,并随着压应变的增加而减小。计算结果表明,张应变对2DEG迁移率的影响要比压应变大。此外,GaN有效质量的变化在低温时对迁移率的作用更明显。而在低温低浓度的条件下,迁移率却对有效质量的依赖很小。     

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.     

AlGaN紫外探测器及其焦平面阵列技术研究进展

AlGaN紫外探测器及其焦平面阵列具有本征可见光盲特性,并可实现无需滤光片的日盲探测,且为全固态器件,是紫外探测技术的一个重要发展方向。文章介绍了AlGaN紫外探测器与焦平面阵列的研究现状及其存在的问题。在此基础上,分析了AlGaN雪崩光电二极管(APD)发展的基本条件,并介绍了AlGaN APD的发展现状及趋势。     

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.     

Traps centers and deep defects contribution in current instabilities for AlGaN/GaN HEMT's on silicon and sapphire substrates

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with Si and Al₂O₃ substrates reveals anomalies on I_ds-V_ds-T and I_gs-V_gs-T characteristics (degradation in drain current, kink effect, barrier height fluctuations, etc.). Stress and random telegraph signal (RTS) measurements prove the presence of trap centers responsible for drain current degradation. An explanation of the trapping mechanism responsible for current instabilities is proposed. Deep defects analysis performed by capacitance transient spectroscopy (C-DLTS), frequency dispersion of the output conductance (G_ds(f)), respectively, on gate/source and drain/source contacts and RTS prove the presence of deep defects localized, respectively, in the gate and in the channel regions. Defects detected by C-DLTS and G_ds(f) are strongly correlated, respectively, to barrier height inhomogeneities and kink anomalies. Gate current analysis confirms the presence of (G-R) centers acting like traps at the interface GaN/AlGaN. Finally, the localization of these traps defects is proposed.     

Study on Mg memory effect in npn type AlGaN/GaN HBT structures grown by MOCVD

AlGaN/GaN npn heterojunction bipolar transistor structures were grown by low-pressure MOCVD. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements were carried out to study the Mg memory effect and redistribution in the emitter-base junction. The results indicated that there is a Mg-rich film formed in the ongrowing layer after the Cp₂Mg source is switched off. The Mg-rich film can be confined in the base section by switching off the Cp₂Mg source for appropriate time before the end of base growth. Low temperature growth of the undoped GaN spacer suppresses the Mg redistribution from Mg rich film. The delay rate of the Mg profile in sample C with spacer growing in low temperature is about 56 nm/decade, which becomes sharper than 80 nm/decade of the samples A and B without low temperature spacer.