Recess-free enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN RF HEMTs on Si substrate

Enhancement-mode(E-mode)GaN-on-Si radio-frequency(RF)high-electron-mobility transistors(HEMTs)were fabri-cated on an ultrathin-barrier(UTB)AlGaN(<6 nm)/GaN heterostructure featuring a naturally depleted 2-D electron gas(2DEG)channel.The fabricated E-mode HEMTs exhibit a relatively high threshold voltage(VTH)of+1.1 V with good uniformity.A maxi-mum current/power gain cut-off frequency(fT/fMAX)of 31.3/99.6 GHz with a power added efficiency(PAE)of 52.47%and an out-put power density(Pout)of 1.0 W/mm at 3.5 GHz were achieved on the fabricated E-mode HEMTs with 1-μm gate and Au-free ohmic contact.

High threshold voltage enhancement-mode GaN p-FET with Sirich LPCVD SiN_(x) gate insulator for high hole mobility

In this work,the GaN p-MISFET with LPCVD-SiN_(x) is studied as a gate dielectric to improve device performance.By changing the Si/N stoichiometry of SiN_(x),it is found that the channel hole mobility can be effectively enhanced with Si-rich SiN_(x) gate dielectric,which leads to a respectably improved drive current of GaN p-FET.The record high channel mobility of 19.4 cm2/(V∙s)was achieved in the device featuring an Enhancement-mode channel.Benefiting from the significantly improved channel mobility,the fabricated E-mode GaN p-MISFET is capable of delivering a decent-high current of 1.6 mA/mm,while simultaneously featuring a negative threshold-voltage(VTH)of–2.3 V(defining at a stringent criteria of 10μA/mm).The device also exhibits a well pinch-off at 0 V with low leakage current of 1 nA/mm.This suggests that a decent E-mode operation of the fabricated p-FET is obtained.In addition,the VTH shows excellent stability,while the threshold-voltage hysteresisΔVTH is as small as 0.1 V for a gate voltage swing up to–10 V,which is among the best results reported in the literature.The results indicate that optimizing the Si/N stoichiometry of LPCVD-SiN_(x) is a promising approach to improve the device performance of GaN p-MISFET.

High-performance enhancement-mode GaN-based p-FETs fabricated with O_(3)-Al_(2)O_(3)/HfO_(2)-stacked gate dielectric

In this letter,an enhancement-mode(E-mode)GaN p-channel field-effect transistor(p-FET)with a high current den-sity of−4.9 mA/mm based on a O_(3)-Al_(2)O_(3)/HfO_(2)(5/15 nm)stacked gate dielectric was demonstrated on a p++-GaN/p-GaN/AlN/AlGaN/AlN/GaN/Si heterostructure.Attributed to the p++-GaN capping layer,a good linear ohmic I−V characteristic fea-turing a low-contact resistivity(ρc)of 1.34×10^(−4)Ω·cm^(2) was obtained.High gate leakage associated with the HfO_(2)high-k gate dielectric was effectively blocked by the 5-nm O_(3)-Al_(2)O_(3)insertion layer grown by atomic layer deposition,contributing to a high ION/IOFF ratio of 6×10^(6)and a remarkably reduced subthreshold swing(SS)in the fabricated p-FETs.The proposed structure is compelling for energy-efficient GaN complementary logic(CL)circuits.

Gate Annealing of an Enhancement-Mode InGaP/AlGaAs/InGaAs PHEMT

For enhancement-mode InGaP/A1GaAs/InGaAs PHEMTs,gate annealing is conducted between gate structures of Ti/Pt/Au and Pt/Ti/Pt/Au. Comparison is made after thermal annealing and an optimum annealing process is ob- tained. Using the structure of Ti/Pt/Au, about a 200mV positive shift of threshold voltage is achieved by thermal annea- ling at 320℃ for 40min in N2 ambient. Finally, a stable and consistent enhancement-mode PHEMT is produced successfully with higher threshold voltage.

Abstraction of Small Signal Equivalent Circuit Parameters of Enhancement-Mode InGaP/AlGaAs/InGaAs PHEMT

An extraction method of the component parameter values of an enhancement-mode InGaP/AIGaAs/In-GaAs PHEMT small signal equivalent circuit is presented,and these component parameter values are extracted by using the EEHEMT1 model of IC-CAP software. The extraction results are verified by ADS software,and the DC I-V curves and S parameters simulated by ADS are basically accordant with those of the test results. These results indicate that the EEHEMT1 model can be used for extracting the component parameters of an enhancement-mode PHEMT.

Influence of ^(60)Co gamma radiation on fluorine plasma treated enhancement-mode high-electron-mobility transistor

A1GaN/GaN depletion-mode high-electron-mobility transistor （D-HEMT） and fluorine （F） plasma treated enhancement-mode high-electron-mobility transistor （E-HEMT） are exposed to 60Co gamma radiation with a dose of 1.6 Mrad （Si）. No degradation is observed in the performance of D-HEMT. However, the maximum transeonductance of E-HEMT is increased after radiation. The 2DEG density and the mobility are calculated from the results of capacitance-voltage measurement. The electron mobility decreases after fluorine plasma treatment and recovers after radiation. Conductance measurements in a frequency range from 10 kHz to 1 MHz are used to characterize the trapping effects in the devices. A new type of trap is observed in the F plasma treated E-HEMT compared with the D-HEMT, but the density of the trap decreases by radiation. Fitting of Gp/w data yields the trap densities DT = （1-3）Х1012 cm^-2.eV^-1 and DT = （0,2-0.8）Х10^12 cm^2-eV^-1 before and after radiation, respectively. The time constant is 0.5 ms-6 ms. With F plasma treatment, the trap is introduced by etch damage and degrades the electronic mobility. After 60Co gamma radiation, the etch damage decreases and the electron mobility is improved. The gamma radiation can recover the etch damage caused by F plasma treatment.

Investigation of AlGaN/GaN fluorine plasma treatment enhancement-mode high electronic mobility transistors by frequency-dependent capacitance and conductance analysis

This paper reports fluorine plasma treatment enhancement-mode HEMTs （high electronic mobility transistors） EHEMTs and conventional depletion-mode HEMTs DHEMTs fabricated on one wafer using separate litho-photography technology. It finds that fluorine plasma etches the AlGaN at a slow rate by capacitance-voltage measurement. Using capacitance-frequency measurement, it finds one type of trap in conventional DHEMTs with TT = （0.5 - 6） ms and DT ： （1 - 5）×10^13 cm^-2. eV^-1. Two types of trap are found in fluorine plasma treatment EHEMTs, fast with TW（f）= （0.2 - 2） μs and slow with TT（s） = （0.5 - 6） ms. The density of trap states evaluated on the EHEMTs is Dw（f） ： （1 - 3） × 10^12 cm^-2. eV^-1 and DT（s） =（2 - 6） × 10^12 cm-2. eV-1 for the fast and slow traps, respectively. The result shows that the fluorine plasma treatment reduces the slow trap density by about one order, but introduces a new type of fast trap. The slow trap is suggested to be a surface trap, related to the gate leakage current.

High-performance InAlGaN/GaN enhancement-mode MOS-HEMTs grown by pulsed metal organic chemical vapor deposition

Pulsed metal organic chemical vapor deposition was employed to grow nearly polarization matched InAlGaN/GaN heterostructures. A relatively low sheet carrier density of 1.8×10^(12)cm^(-2), together with a high electron mobility of1229.5 cm^2/V·s, was obtained for the prepared heterostructures. The surface morphology of the heterostructures was also significantly improved, i.e., with a root mean square roughness of 0.29 nm in a 2 μm×2 μm scan area. In addition to the improved properties, the enhancement-mode metal–oxide–semiconductor high electron mobility transistors(MOSHEMTs) processed on the heterostructures not only exhibited a high threshold voltage(VTH) of 3.1 V, but also demonstrated a significantly enhanced drain output current density of 669 m A/mm. These values probably represent the largest values obtained from the InAlGaN based enhancement-mode devices to the best of our knowledge. This study strongly indicates that the InAlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown by pulsed metal organic chemical vapor deposition could be promising for the applications of novel nitride-based electronic devices.

High-frequency enhancement-mode millimeterwave AlGaN/GaN HEMT with an fT/fmax over 100 GHz/200 GHz

Ultra-thin barrier(UTB) 4-nm-Al Ga N/Ga N normally-off high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) having a high current gain cut-off frequency( fT) are demonstrated by the stress-engineered compressive Si N trench technology.The compressive in-situ Si N guarantees the UTB-Al Ga N/Ga N heterostructure can operate a high electron density of1.27×1013 cm-2, a high uniform sheet resistance of 312.8 Ω/, but a negative threshold for the short-gate devices fabricated on it. With the lateral stress-engineering by full removing in-situ Si N in the 600-nm Si N trench, the short-gated(70 nm) devices obtain a threshold of 0.2 V, achieving the devices operating at enhancement-mode(E-mode). Meanwhile,the novel device also can operate a large current of 610 m A/mm and a high transconductance of 394 m S/mm for the Emode devices. Most of all, a high fT/fmax of 128 GHz/255 GHz is obtained, which is the highest value among the reported E-mode Al Ga N/Ga N HEMTs. Besides, being together with the 211 GHz/346 GHz of fT/fmax for the D-mode HEMTs fabricated on the same materials, this design of E/D-mode with the realization of fmax over 200 GHz in this work is the first one that can be used in Q-band mixed-signal application with further optimization. And the minimized processing difference between the E-and D-mode designs the addition of the Si N trench, will promise an enormous competitive advantage in the fabricating costs.

Groove-type channel enhancement-mode Al GaN/GaN MIS HEMT with combined polar and nonpolar AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

A novel groove-type channel enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN MIS high electron mobility transistor（GTCE-HEMT）with a combined polar and nonpolar AlGaN/GaN heterostucture is presented. The device simulation shows a threshold voltage of 1.24 V, peak transconductance of 182 m S/mm, and subthreshold slope of 85 m V/dec, which are obtained by adjusting the device parameters. Interestingly, it is possible to control the threshold voltage accurately without precisely controlling the etching depth in fabrication by adopting this structure. Besides, the breakdown voltage（VB） is significantly increased by 78% in comparison with the value of the conventional MIS-HEMT. Moreover, the fabrication process of the novel device is entirely compatible with that of the conventional depletion-mode（D-mode） polar AlGaN/GaN HEMT. It presents a promising way to realize the switch application and the E/D-mode logic circuits.

An Improved Active Miller Clamp Crosstalk Suppression Method for Enhancement-Mode GaN HEMTs in Phase-Leg Configuration

When using traditional drive circuits,the enhancement-mode GaN(eGaN)HEMT will be affected by high switching speed characteristics and parasitic parameters leading to worse crosstalk problems.Currently,the existing crosstalk suppression drive circuits often have the disadvantages of increased switching loss,control complexity,and overall electromagnetic interference(EMI).Therefore,this paper combines the driving loop impedance control and the active Miller clamp method to propose an improved active Miller clamp drive circuit.First,the crosstalk mechanism is analyzed,and the crosstalk voltage model is established.Through the crosstalk voltage evaluation platform,the influencing factors are evaluated experimentally.Then,the operating principle of the improved active Miller clamp drive circuit is discussed,and the optimized parameter design method is given.Finally,the effect of the improved active Miller clamp method for suppressing crosstalk is experimentally verified.The crosstalk voltage was suppressed from 3.5 V and-3.5 V to 1 V and-1.3 V,respectively,by the improved circuit.

The effects of ^(60)Co γ-ray irradiation on the DC characteristics of enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors

The effects of ^60Co γ-ray irradiation on the DC characteristics of AlGaN/GaN enhancement-mode high-electron- mobility transistors （E-mode HEMTs） are investigated. The results show that having been irradiated by^60Co γ-rays at a dose of 3 Mrad （Si）, the E-mode HEMT reduces its saturation drain current and maximal transconductance by 6% and 5%, respectively, and significantly increases both forward and reverse gate currents, while its threshold voltage is affected only slightly. The obvious performance degradation of E-mode A1GaN/GaN HEMTs is consistent with the creation of electronegative surface state charges in the source-gate spacer and gate-drain spacer after being irradiated.

Static characteristics and short channel effect in enhancement-mode AlN/GaN/AlN N-polar MISFET with self-aligned source/drain regions

This paper aims to simulate the I–V static characteristic of the enhancement-mode（E-mode） Npolar GaN metal–insulator–semiconductor field effect transistor（MISFET） with self-aligned source/drain regions.Firstly, with SILVACO TCAD device simulation, the drain–source current as a function of the gate–source voltage is calculated and the dependence of the drain–source current on the drain–source voltage in the case of different gate–source voltages for the device with a 0.62 m gate length is investigated. Secondly, a comparison is made with the experimental report. Lastly, the transfer characteristic with different gate lengths and different buffer layers has been performed. The results show that the simulation is in accord with the experiment at the gate length of 0.62 m and the short channel effect becomes pronounced as gate length decreases. The E-mode will not be held below a100 nm gate length unless both transversal scaling and vertical scaling are being carried out simultaneously.

Thin-barrier enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMT using ALD Al_2O_3 as gate insulator

A high-performance enhancement-mode （E-mode） gallium nitride （GaN）-based metal-insulator- semiconductor high electron mobility transistor （MIS-HEMT） that employs a 5-nm-thick aluminum gallium nitride （Al0.3Ga0.7N） as a barrier layer and relies on silicon nitride （SIN） passivation to control the 2DEG density is presented. Unlike the SiN passivation, aluminum oxide （AL2O3） by atomic layer deposition （ALD） on A1GaN surface would not increase the 2DEG density in the heterointerface. ALD AL2O3 was used as gate insulator after the depletion by etching of the SiN in the gate region. The E-mode MIS-HEMT with gate length （LG） of 1 μm showed a maximum drain current density （IDs） of 657 mA/mm, a maximum extrinsic transconductance （gin） of 187 mS/ram and a threshold voltage （Vth） of 1 V. Comparing with the corresponding E-mode HEMT, the device performances had been greatly improved due to the insertion of AL2O3 gate insulator. This provided an excellent way to realize E-mode A1GaN/GaN MIS-HEMTs with both high Vth and IDS.

A high-performance enhancement-mode AIGaN/GaN HEMT

An enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN HEMT with a threshold voltage of 0.35 V was fabricated by fluorine plasma treatment.The enhancement-mode device demonstrates high-performance DC characteristics with a saturation current density of 667 mA/mm at a gate bias of 4 V and a peak transconductance of 201 mS/mm at a gate bias of 0.8 V. The current-gain cut-off frequency and the maximum oscillation frequency of the enhancement-mode device with a gate length of 1μm are 10.3 GHz and 12.5 GHz,respectively,which is comparable with the depletion-mode device.A numerical simulation supported by SIMS results was employed to give a reasonable explanation that the fluorine ions act as an acceptor trap center in the barrier layer.

DC and RF characteristics of enhancement-mode InAlN/GaN HEMT with fluorine treatment

We report an enhancement-mode InA1N/GaN HEMT using a fluorine plasma treatment. The threshold voltage was measured to be ＋0.86 V by linear extrapolation from the transfer characteristics. The transconductance is 0 mS/mm at Vc, s = 0 V and VDS = 5 V, which shows a truly normal-offstate. The gate leakage current density of the enhancement-mode device shows two orders of magnitude lower than that of the depletion-mode device. The transfer characteristics of the E-mode InA1N/GaN HEMT at room temperature and high temperature are reported. The current gain cut-off frequency （fT） and the maximum oscillation frequency （fmax） of the enhancement-mode device with a gate length of 0.3 #m were 29.4 GHz and 37.6 GHz respectively, which is comparable with the depletion-mode device. A classical 16 elements small-signal model was deduced to describe the parasitic and the intrinsic parameters of the device.

Enhancement-mode InAlN/GaN MISHEMT with low gate leakage current

We report an enhancement-mode InAlN/GaN MISHEMT with a low gate leakage current by a thermal oxidation technique under gate.The off-state source-drain current density is as low as～10^（17） A/mm at V_（GS）= 0 V and V_（DS） = 5 V.The threshold voltage is measured to be ＋0.8 V by linear extrapolation from the transfer characteristics.The E-mode device exhibits a peak transconductance of 179 mS/mm at a gate bias of 3.4 V.A low reverse gate leakage current density of 4.9×10^（17） A/mm is measured at V_（GS） =-15 V.

High-performance enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN MOS-HEMTs with fluorinated stack gate dielectrics and thin barrier layer

We present high-performance enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor highelectron mobility transistors（MOS-HEMTs） by a fluorinated gate dielectric technique.A nanolaminate of an Al_2O_3/La_xAl_（1-x）O_3/Al_2O_3 stack（x≈0.33） grown by atomic layer deposition is employed to avoid fluorine ions implantation into the scaled barrier layer.Fabricated enhancement-mode MOS-HEMTs exhibit an excellent performance as compared to those with the conventional dielectric-last technique,delivering a large maximum drain current of 916 mA/mm and simultaneously a high peak transconductance of 342 mS/mm.The balanced DC characteristics indicate that advanced gate stack dielectrics combined with buffered fluorine ions implantation have a great potential for high speed GaN E/D-mode integrated circuit applications.

Monolithic Integration of InGaP/AlGaAs/InGaAs Enhancement/Depletion-Mode PHEMTs

The monolithic integration of enhancement- and depletion-mode （E/D-mode） InGaP/AIGaAs/InGaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors （PHEMTs） with a 1.0μm gate length is presented. Epilayers are grown on SI GaAs substrates using MBE. For this structure, a mobility of 5410cm^2/（V · s） and a sheet density of 1.34 × 10^12 cm^-2 are achieved at room temperature. During the gate fabrication of E/D-mode PHEMTs,a novel twostep technology is applied. The devices with a gate dimension of 1μm × 100μm exhibit good DC and RF performances. Threshold voltages of 0. 2 and -0. 4V,maximum drain current densities of 300 and 340mA/mm,and extrinsic transconductances of 350 and 300mS/mm for E- and D-mode PHEMTs are obtained, respectively. The reverse gatedrain breakdown voltage is -14V for both E- and D-mode. Current-gain cutoff frequencies of 10. 3 and 12.4GHz and power-gain cutoff frequencies of 12.8 and 14.7GHz for E- and D-mode are reported, respectively.

Instability of parasitic capacitance in T-shape-gate enhancementmode AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMTs

Parasitic capacitances associated with overhangs of the T-shape-gate enhancement-mode(E-mode)GaN-based power device,were investigated by frequency/voltage-dependent capacitance-voltage and inductive-load switching measurements.The overhang capacitances induce a pinch-off voltage distinguished from that of the E-mode channel capacitance in the gate capacitance and the gatedrain capacitance characteristic curves.Frequency-and voltage-dependent tests confirm the instability caused by the trapping of interface/bulk states in the LPCVD-SiNx passivation dielectric.Circuit-level double pulse measurement also reveals its impact on switching transition for power switching applications.