Electric-stress reliability and current collapse of different thickness SiN_x passivated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

This paper investigates the impact of electrical degradation and current collapse on different thickness SiNx passivated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors. It finds that higher thickness SiNx passivation can significantly improve the high-electric-field reliability of a device. The degradation mechanism of the SiNx passivation layer under ON-state stress has also been discussed in detail. Under the ON-state stress, the strong electric-field led to degradation of SiNx passivation located in the gate-drain region. As the thickness of SiNx passivation increases, the density of the surface state will be increased to some extent. Meanwhile, it is found that the high NH3 flow in the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition process could reduce the surface state and suppress the current collapse.

Various Recipes of SiNx Passivated AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors in Correlation with Current Slump

The current slump of different recipes of SiN~ passivated AIGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors （HEMTs） is investigated. The dc and pulsed current-voltage curves of AIGaN/GaN HEMTs using different recipes are analyzed. It is found that passivation leakage has a strong relationship with NH3 flow in the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor phase deposition process, which has impacted on the current collapse of SiNs passivated devices. We analyze the pulsed IDS -- VDS characteristics of different recipes of SiNx passivation devices for different combinations of gate and drain quiescent biases （VGso, VDSO） of （0, 0）, （-6, 0）, （-6, 15） and （0, 15）V. The possible mechanisms are the traps in SiNxpassivation capturing the electrons and the surface states at the SiNx/AIGaN interface, which can affect the channel of two-dimensional electron gas and cause the current collapse.

Characteristics in AlN/AlGaN/GaN Multilayer-Structured High-Electron-Mobility Transistors

A new multilayer-structured AlN/AlCaN/CaN heterostructure high-electron-mobility transistor （HEMT） is demonstrated. The AIN/AlCaN/CaN HEMT exhibits the maximum drain current density of 800mA/mm and the maximum extrinsic transconductance of 170 mS/mm. Due to the increase of the distance between the gate and the two-dimensional electron-gas channel, the threshold voltage shifts slightly to the negative. The reduced drain current collapse and higher breakdown voltage are observed on this AIN/AlGaN/CaN HEMT. The current gain cut-off frequency and the maximum frequency of oscillation are 18.5 CHz and 29.0 GHz, respectively.