Qimeng Jiang

Effective Passivation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by ALD-Grown AlN Thin Film

An effective passivation technique for AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) is presented. This technique features an AlN thin film grown by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). With in situ remote plasma pretreatments prior to the AlN deposition, an atomically sharp interface between ALD-AlN and III-nitride has been obtained. Significant current collapse suppression and dynamic ON-resistance reduction are demonstrated in the ALD-AlN-passivated AlGaN/GaN HEMTs under high-drain-bias switching conditions.

600-V Normally Off

In this letter, 600-V normally-OFF SiNx/AlGaN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistor (MIS-HEMT) is reported. Normally-OFF operation and low OFF-state gate leakage are obtained by using fluorine plasma ion implantation in conjunction with the adoption of a 17-nm SiNx thin film grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition as the gate insulator. The normally-OFF MIS-HEMT exhibits a threshold voltage of +3.6 V, a drive current of 430 mA/mm at a gate bias of 14 V, a specific ON-resistance of 2.1 mΩ·cm2 and an OFF-state breakdown voltage of 604 V at a drain leakage current of 1 μA/mm with VGS=0 V, and the substrate grounded. Effective current collapse suppression is obtained by AlN/SiNx passivation as proved by high-speed pulsed I-V and low-speed high-voltage switching measurement results.

{\rm SiN}_{x}

Vertical leakage/breakdown mechanisms in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors grown on low-resistivity p-type (111) Si substrate are studied by temperature-dependent current-voltage ( I-V) measurements. It is found that the top-to-substrate vertical breakdown voltage (BV) is dominated by the space-charge-limited current conduction involving both acceptor and donor traps in the GaN buffer/transition layer. From the temperature-dependent transient backgating measurements, the acceptor level at EV + 543 meV and the donor level at EC-616 meV were identified.

/AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMT With Large Gate Swing and Low Current Collapse

The physical mechanism of passivation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by AlN thin film prepared with plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) is investigated by characterizing Ni- Al2O3/AlN-GaN/AlGaN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) diodes. The dielectric stack Al2O3/AlN (13/2 nm) exhibits similar capability in suppressing the current collapse in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs as the 4-nm PEALD-AlN thin film used in our previous work but delivers much lower vertical leakage to facilitate the capacitance-voltage characterizations. Exceptionally large negative bias (<; -8 V) is required to deplete the 2-D electron gas in the MIS diodes C-V measurement. By virtue of quasi-static C-V characterization, it is revealed that positive fixed charges of ~ 3.2 × 1013 e/cm2 are introduced by the PEALD-AlN. The positive fixed charges are suggested to be polarization charges in the monocrystal-like PEALD-AlN. They can effectively compensate the high-density slow-response acceptor-like interface traps, resulting in effective suppression of current collapse.

Vertical Leakage/Breakdown Mechanisms in AlGaN/GaN-on-Si Devices

We report a high-performance normally-off Al2O3/AlN/GaN MOS-channel-high electron mobility transistor (MOSC-HEMT) featuring a monocrystalline AlN interfacial layer inserted between the amorphous Al2O3 gate dielectric and the GaN channel. The AlN interfacial layer effectively blocks oxygen from the GaN surface and prevents the formation of detrimental Ga-O bonds. Frequency-dispersion in C-V characteristics and threshold voltage hysteresis are effectively suppressed, owing to improved interface quality. The new MOSC-HEMTs exhibit a maximum drain current of 660 mA/mm, a field-effect mobility of 165 cm2/V·s, a high on/off drain current ratio of ~1010, and low dynamic on-resistance degradation.

Mechanism of PEALD-Grown AlN Passivation for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs: Compensation of Interface Traps by Polarization Charges

An effective passivation technique that yields low off-state leakage and low current collapse simultaneously in high-voltage (600-V) AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) is reported in this letter. The passivation structure consists of an AlN/SiN_x stack with 4-nm AlN deposited by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition and 50-nm SiN_x deposited by PECVD. The AlN/ SiN_x-passivated HEMTs with a gate-drain distance of 15 μm exhibit a high maximum drain current of 900 mA/mm, a low off-state current of 0.7 μA/mm at V_DS = 600 V, and a steep subthreshold slope of 63 mV/dec. Compared with the static on-resistance of 1.3 mΩ·cm², the dynamic on-resistance after high off-state drain bias stress at 650 V only increases to 2.1 mΩ·cm². A high breakdown voltage of 632 V is achieved at a drain leakage current of 1 μA/mm .

Al 2 O 3 /AlN/GaN MOS-Channel-HEMTs With an AlN Interfacial Layer

Thermally stimulated current (TSC) spectroscopy and high-voltage back-gating measurement are utilized to study GaN buffer traps specific to AlGaN/GaN lateral heterojunction structures grown on a low-resistivity Si substrate. Three dominating deep-level traps in GaN buffer with activation energies of ΔET1 ∼ 0.54 eV, ΔET2 ∼ 0.65 eV, and ΔET3 ∼ 0.75 eV are extracted from TSC spectroscopy in a vertical GaN-on-Si structure. High back-gate bias applied to the Si substrate could influence the drain current in an AlGaN/GaN-on-Si high-electron-mobility transistor in a way that cannot be explained with a simple field-effect model. By correlating the trap states identified in TSC with the back-gating measurement results, it is proposed that the ionization/deionization of both donor and acceptor traps are responsible for the generation of buffer space charges, which impose additional modulation to the 2DEG channel.

High-Voltage (600-V) Low-Leakage Low-Current-Collapse AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with AlN/SiN x Passivation

We report the interface characterization of Al2O3/AlN/GaN MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) structures with an AlN interfacial layer. A thin monocrystal-like interfacial layer (AlN) is formed at the Al2O3/GaN to effectively block oxygen from the GaN surface and prevent the formation of detrimental Ga-O bonds. The suppression of Ga-O bonds is validated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of the critical interface. Frequency-dispersion in C-V characteristics has been significantly reduced, owing to improved interface quality. Furthermore, using the conventional conductance method suitable for extracting the interface trap density Dit in MOS structures, Dit in the device with AlN was determined to be in the range of 1011–1012 eV−1 cm−2, showing one order of magnitude lower than that without AlN. Border traps near the gate-dielectric/GaN interface were identified and shown to be suppressed by the AlN interfacial layer as well.

Investigation of buffer traps in AlGaN/GaN-on-Si devices by thermally stimulated current spectroscopy and back-gating measurement

Al2O3/AlGaN/GaN enhancement-mode metalisolator-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistor (MIS-HEMT) featuring a partially recessed (Al) GaN barrier was realized by a fluorine plasma implantation/etch technique. By properly adjusting the RF power driving the fluorine plasma, the fluorine plasma is able to produce two desirable results: 1) a well-controlled slow dry etching for gate recess and 2) implanting fluorine ions into the AlGaN barrier. The fluorine ions become negatively charged in the barrier layer and induce a positive shift in the threshold voltage. The proposed MIS-HEMT exhibits a threshold voltage (VTH) of +0.6 V at a drain current of 10 μA/mm, a maximum drive current of 730 mA/mm, an ON-resistance of 7.07 Ω · mm, and an OFF-state breakdown voltage of 703 V at an OFF-state drain leakage current of 1 μA/mm. From room temperature to 200 °C, the device exhibits a small negative shift of VTH (~0.5 V) that is attributed to the high-quality dielectric/F-implanted-(Al) GaN interface and the partially recessed barrier.

Interface/border trap characterization of Al2O3/AlN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor structures with an AlN interfacial layer

We demonstrate high-voltage depletion-mode and enhancement-mode (E-mode) AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) on a GaN-on-silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. The GaN-on-SOI wafer features GaN epilayers grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on a p-type (111) Si SOI substrate with a p-type (100) Si handle wafer. Micro-Raman spectroscopy significantly reveals reduced stress in the GaN epilayers, which is a result expected from the compliant SOI substrate. E-mode HEMTs fabricated by fluorine plasma implantation technique deliver high on/off current ratio (108-109), large breakdown voltage (1471 V with floating substrate), and low on-resistance (3.92 mΩ·cm2).