Thermal storage effects on AlGaN/GaN HEMT

The effects of thermal storage on GaN–HEMT devices grown on SiC substrate have been investigated by DC and pulsed electrical measurements, breakdown measurements (by means of a Transmission Line Pulser, TLP), and optical and electron microscopy. After 3000 h of thermal storage testing at 300 °C, only a limited reduction of the DC drain saturation current and of the transconductance peak was observed (20% and 25% decrease, respectively). However, pulsed measurements on aged devices clearly highlight a dramatic current collapse effect that has been attributed to a creation of surface traps in the gate-to-drain and gate-to-source access region. On-state breakdown characterization carried out on aged devices did not highlight any noticeable changes with respect to the untreated devices similarly to the DC characterization. Failure analyses have demonstrated that a loss of adhesion of the passivation layer was responsible for the observed trap formation. An improved passivation deposition process was therefore developed, including a surface cleaning procedure aimed at preventing passivation detaching. The devices fabricated using this new procedure do not show any enhancement of trapping effects up to 500 h of thermal stress at 300 °C.