Mi Minhan

Mechanism of improving forward and reverse blocking voltages in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by using Schottky drain

In this paper, we demonstrate that a Schottky drain can improve the forward and reverse blocking voltages (BVs) simultaneously in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). The mechanism of improving the two BVs is investigated by analysing the leakage current components and by software simulation. The forward BV increases from 72 V to 149 V due to the good Schottky contact morphology. During the reverse bias, the buffer leakage in the Ohmicdrain HEMT increases significantly with the increase of the negative drain bias. For the Schottky-drain HEMT, the buffer leakage is suppressed effectively by the formation of the depletion region at the drain terminal. As a result, the reverse BV is enhanced from −5 V to −49 V by using a Schottky drain. Experiments and the simulation indicate that a Schottky drain is desirable for power electronic applications.In this paper, we demonstrate that a Schottky drain can improve the forward and reverse blocking voltages(BVs)simultaneously in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors(HEMTs). The mechanism of improving the two BVs is investigated by analysing the leakage current components and by software simulation. The forward BV increases from72 V to 149 V due to the good Schottky contact morphology. During the reverse bias, the buffer leakage in the Ohmicdrain HEMT increases significantly with the increase of the negative drain bias. For the Schottky-drain HEMT, the buffer leakage is suppressed effectively by the formation of the depletion region at the drain terminal. As a result, the reverse BV is enhanced from-5 V to-49 V by using a Schottky drain. Experiments and the simulation indicate that a Schottky drain is desirable for power electronic applications.

Non-recessed-gate quasi-E-mode double heterojunction AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor with high breakdown voltage

A non-recessed-gate quasi-E-mode double heterojunction AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (quasi-E-DHEMT) with a thin barrier, high breakdown voltage and good performance of drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) was presented. Due to the metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown 9-nm undoped AlGaN barrier, the effect that the gate metal depleted the two-dimensiomal electron gas (2DEG) was greatly impressed. Therefore, the density of carriers in the channel was nearly zero. Hence, the threshold voltage was above 0 V. Quasi-E-DHEMT with 4.1-μm source-to-drain distance, 2.6-μm gate-to-drain distance, and 0.5-μm gate length showed a drain current of 260 mA/mm. The threshold voltage of this device was 0.165 V when the drain voltage was 10 V and the DIBL was 5.26 mV/V. The quasi-E-DHEMT drain leakage current at a drain voltage of 146 V and a gate voltage of −6 V was below 1 mA/mm. This indicated that the hard breakdown voltage was more than 146 V.

Improved performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMT by N2O plasma pre-treatment

The influence of an N2O plasma pre-treatment technique on characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) prepared by using a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system is presented. After the plasma treatment, the peak transconductance (gm) increases from 209 mS/mm to 293 mS/mm. Moreover, it is observed that the reverse gate leakage current is lowered by one order of magnitude and the drain current dispersion is improved in the plasma-treated device. From the analysis of frequency-dependent conductance, it can be seen that the trap state density (DT) and time constant (τT) of the N2O-treated device are smaller than those of a non-treated device. The results indicate that the N2O plasma pre-pretreatment before the gate metal deposition could be a promising approach to enhancing the performance of the device.

Trap states induced by reactive ion etching in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors*

Frequency-dependent conductance measurements were carried out to investigate the trap states induced by reactive ion etching in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) quantitatively. For the non-recessed HEMT, the trap state density decreases from 2.48 × 1013 cm−2eV−1 at an energy of 0.29 eV to 2.79 × 1012 cm−2eV−1 at ET = 0.33 eV. In contrast, the trap state density of 2.38 × 1013–1.10 × 1014 cm−2eV−1 is located at ET in a range of 0.30–0.33 eV for the recessed HEMT. Thus, lots of trap states with shallow energy levels are induced by the gate recess etching. The induced shallow trap states can be changed into deep trap states by 350 °C annealing process. As a result, there are two different types of trap sates, fast and slow, in the annealed HEMT. The parameters of the annealed HEMT are ET = 0.29–0.31 eV and DT = 8.16 × 1012–5.58 × 1013 cm−2eV−1 for the fast trap states, and ET = 0.37–0.45 eV and DT = 1.84 × 1013 − 8.50 × 1013 cm−2eV−1 for the slow trap states. The gate leakage currents are changed by the etching and following annealing process, and this change can be explained by the analysis of the trap states.