Low-damage interface enhancement-mode AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors with 41.6% PAE at 30 GHz

This paper reports a low-damage interface treatment process for Al N/Ga N high electron mobility transistor(HEMT)and demonstrates the excellent power characteristics of radio-frequency(RF) enhancementmode(E-mode) Al N/Ga N HEMT. An RF E-mode device with 2.9-nm-thick Al N barrier layer fabricated by remote plasma oxidation(RPO) treatment at 300℃. The device with a gate length of 0.12-μm has a threshold voltage(Vth) of 0.5 V, a maximum saturation current of 1.16 A/mm, a high Ion/Ioff ratio of 1×108, and a 440-m S/mm peak transconductance. During continuous wave(CW) power testing, the device demonstrates that at 3.6 GHz, a power added efficiency is 61.9% and a power density is 1.38 W/mm, and at 30 GHz, a power added efficiency is 41.6% and a power density is 0.85 W/mm. Furthermore, the RPO treatment improves the mobility of RF E-mode Al N/Ga N HEMT. All results show that the RPO processing method has good applicability to scaling ultrathin barrier E-mode Al N/Ga N HEMT for 5G compliable frequency ranging from sub-6 GHz to Ka-band.

Interface and border trapping effects in normally-off Al2O3/AlGaN/GaN MOS-HEMTs with different post-etch surface treatments

Trapping effect in normally-off Al2O3/AlGaN/GaN metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) high-electron-mobility transistors (MOS-HEMTs) with post-etch surface treatment was studied in this paper. Diffusion-controlled interface oxidation treatment and wet etch process were adopted to improve the interface quality of MOS-HEMTs. With capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurement, the density of interface and border traps were calculated to be 1.13 × 10^12 cm^−2 and 6.35 × 10^12 cm^−2, effectively reduced by 27% and 14% compared to controlled devices, respectively. Furthermore, the state density distribution of border traps with large activation energy was analyzed using photo-assisted C–V measurement. It is found that irradiation of monochromatic light results in negative shift of C–V curves, which indicates the electron emission process from border traps. The experimental results reveals that the major border traps have an activation energy about 3.29 eV and the change of post-etch surface treatment process has little effect on this major activation energy.

Method of evaluating interface traps in Al2O3/AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

In this paper, the interface states of the AlGaN/GaN metal–insulator–semiconductor(MIS) high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) with an Al2 O3 gate dielectric are systematically evaluated. By frequency-dependent capacitance and conductance measurements, trap density and time constant at Al2 O3/AlGaN and AlGaN/GaN interface are determined.The experimental results reveal that the density of trap states and the activation energy at the Al2 O3/AlGaN interface are much higher than at the AlGaN/GaN interface. The photo-assisted capacitance-voltage measurements are performed to characterize the deep-level traps located near mid-gap at the Al2 O3/AlGaN interface, which indicates that a density of deep-level traps is lower than the density of the shallow-level states.

Negative bias-induced threshold voltage instability and zener/interface trapping mechanism in GaN-based MIS-HEMTs

We investigate the instability of threshold voltage in D-mode MIS-HEMT with in-situ SiN as gate dielectric under different negative gate stresses.The complex non-monotonic evolution of threshold voltage under the negative stress and during the recovery process is induced by the combination effect of two mechanisms.The effect of trapping behavior of interface state at SiN/AlGaN interface and the effect of zener traps in AlGaN barrier layer on the threshold voltage instability are opposite to each other.The threshold voltage shifts negatively under the negative stress due to the detrapping of the electrons at SiN/AlGaN interface,and shifts positively due to zener trapping in AlGaN barrier layer.As the stress is removed,the threshold voltage shifts positively for the retrapping of interface states and negatively for the thermal detrapping in AlGaN.However,it is the trapping behavior in the AlGaN rather than the interface state that results in the change of transconductance in the D-mode MIS-HEMT.

Trap analysis of composite 2D-3D channel in AlGaN/GaN/graded-AlGaN:Si/GaN:C multi-heterostructure at different temperatures

The graded AlGaN:Si back barrier can form the majority of three-dimensional electron gases(3DEGs)at the GaN/graded AlGaN:Si heterostructure and create a composite two-dimensional(2D)-three-dimensional(3D)channel in AlGaN/GaN/graded-AlGaN:Si/GaN:C heterostructure(DH:Si/C).Frequency-dependent capacitances and conductance are measured to investigate the characteristics of the multi-temperature trap states of in DH:Si/C and AlGaN/GaN/GaN:C heterostructure(SH:C).There are fast,medium,and slow trap states in DH:Si/C,while only medium trap states exist in SH:C.The time constant/trap density for medium trap state in SH:C heterostructure are(11μs-17.7μs)/(1.1×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1-3.9×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1)and(8.7μs-14.1μs)/(0.7×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1-1.9×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1)at 300 K and 500 K respectively.The time constant/trap density for fast,medium,and slow trap states in DH:Si/C heterostructure are(4.2μs-7.7μs)/(1.5×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1-3.2×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1),(6.8μs-11.8μs)/(0.8×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1-2.8×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1),(30.1μs-151μs)/(7.5×10^12 cm^-2·eV^-1-7.8×10^12 cm^-2·eV^-1)at 300 K and(3.5μs-6.5μs)/(0.9×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1-1.8×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1),(4.9μs-9.4μs)/(0.6×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1-1.7×10^13 cm^-2·eV^-1),(20.6μs-61.9μs)/(3.2×10^12 cm^-2·eV^-1-3.5×10^12 cm^-2·eV^-1)at 500 K,respectively.The DH:Si/C structure can effectively reduce the density of medium trap states compared with SH:C structure.

Effects of Low-Damage Plasma Treatment on the Channel 2DEG and Device Characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

We investigate the effects of remote nitride-based plasma treatment on the channel carrier and device characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs).A 200W NH3/N2 remote plasma causes little degeneration of carrier mobility and an increase in electron density due to surface alteration,which results in a decrease in sheet resistance and an increase in output current by 20–30%.Improved current slump,suppressed gate leakage current,and improved Schottky contact properties are also achieved by using low-damage nitride-based plasma treatment.It is found that NH3/N2 remote plasma treatment is a promising technique for GaN-based HEMTs to modulate the surface conditions and channel properties.