R. Gaska

AlGaN/GaN metal–oxide–semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistors on SiC substrates

We report on AlGaN/GaN metal–oxide–semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistors (MOS-HFETs) grown over insulating 4H–SiC substrates. We demonstrate that the dc and microwave performance of the MOS-HFETs is superior to that of conventional AlGaN/GaN HFETs, which points to the high quality of SiO2/AlGaN heterointerface. The MOS-HFETs could operate at positive gate biases as high as +10 V that doubles the channel current as compared to conventional AlGaN/GaN HFETs of a similar design. The gate leakage current was more than six orders of magnitude smaller than that for the conventional AlGaN/GaN HFETs. The MOS-HFETs exhibited stable operation at elevated temperatures up to 300 °C with excellent pinch-off characteristics. These results clearly establish the potential of using AlGaN/GaN MOS-HFET approach for high power microwave and switching devices.

Nonresonant detection of terahertz radiation in field effect transistors

We present an experimental and theoretical study of nonresonant detection of subterahertz radiation in GaAs/AlGaAs and GaN/AlGaN heterostructure field effect transistors. The experiments were performed in a wide range of temperatures (8–300 K) and for frequencies ranging from 100 to 600 GHz. The photoresponse measured as a function of the gate voltage exhibited a maximum near the threshold voltage. The results were interpreted using a theoretical model that shows that the maximum in photoresponse can be explained by the combined effect of exponential decrease of the electron density and the gate leakage current.

Si3N4/AlGaN/GaN–metal–insulator–semiconductor heterostructure field–effect transistors

We report on a metal–insulator–semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistor (MISHFET) using Si3N4 film simultaneously for channel passivation and as a gate insulator. This design results in increased radio-frequency (rf) powers by reduction of the current collapse and it reduces the gate leakage currents by four orders of magnitude. A MISHFET room temperature gate current of about 90 pA/mm increases to only 1000 pA/mm at ambient temperature as high as 300 °C. Pulsed measurements show that unlike metal–oxide–semiconductor HFETs and regular HFETs, in a Si3N4 MISHFET, the gate voltage amplitude required for current collapse is much higher than the threshold voltage. Therefore, it exhibits significantly reduced rf current collapse.

High-temperature performance of AlGaN/GaN HFETs on SiC substrates

The performance results AlGaN-GaN Heterostructure Field Effect Transistors (HFETs) grown on SiC substrates are reported. The maximum transconductance of these devices was 142 mS/mm and the source-drain current was as high as 0.95 A/mm. The maximum dissipated DC power at room temperature was 0.6 MW/cm/sup 2/, which is more than three times higher than that in similar devices grown on sapphire. This high thermal breakdown threshold was achieved primarily due to the effective heat sink through the SiC substrate. These devices demonstrated stable performance at elevated temperatures up to 250/spl deg/C. The source-drain current saturation was observed up to 300/spl deg/C. The leakage current in the below threshold regime was temperature-activated with an activation energy of 0.38 eV.

Self-heating in high-power AlGaN-GaN HFETs

We compare self-heating effects in AlGaN-GaN heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs) grown on sapphire and SiC substrates. Heat dissipation strongly affects the device characteristics soon after the application of the source-drain voltage (in less than 10/sup -7/ s). Our results show that in HFETs with the total epilayer thickness less than 1.5 /spl mu/m, the thermal impedance, /spl Theta/ is primarily determined by the substrate material and not by the material of the active layer. For our devices grown on 6H-SiC substrates, we measured /spl Theta/ of approximately 2/spl deg/C/spl middot/mm/W, which was more than an order of magnitude smaller than /spl Theta/=25/spl deg/C mm/W measured for similar AlGaN/GaN HFETs grown on sapphire. Our results demonstrate that AlGaN-GaN HFETs grown on SiC substrates combine advantages of superior electron transport properties in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with excellent thermal properties of SiC, which should make these devices suitable for high-power electronic applications.

Electron transport in AlGaN–GaN heterostructures grown on 6H–SiC substrates

We investigated two-dimensional electron transport in doped AlGaN–GaN heterostructures (with the electron sheet concentration ns≈1013 cm−2) grown on conducting 6H–SiC substrates in the temperature range T=0.3–300 K. The electron mobility in AlGaN–GaN heterostructures grown on SiC was higher than in those on sapphire substrates, especially at cryogenic temperatures. The highest measured Hall mobility at room temperature was μH=2019 cm2/V s. At low temperatures, the electron mobility increased approximately five times and saturated below 10 K at μH=10250 cm2/V s. The experimental results are compared with the electron mobility calculations accounting for various electron scattering mechanisms.We investigated two-dimensional electron transport in doped AlGaN–GaN heterostructures (with the electron sheet concentration ns≈1013 cm−2) grown on conducting 6H–SiC substrates in the temperature range T=0.3–300 K. The electron mobility in AlGaN–GaN heterostructures grown on SiC was higher than in those on sapphire substrates, especially at cryogenic temperatures. The highest measured Hall mobility at room temperature was μH=2019 cm2/V s. At low temperatures, the electron mobility increased approximately five times and saturated below 10 K at μH=10250 cm2/V s. The experimental results are compared with the electron mobility calculations accounting for various electron scattering mechanisms.

Selective area deposited blue GaN–InGaN multiple-quantum well light emitting diodes over silicon substrates

We report on fabrication and characterization of blue GaN–InGaN multi-quantum well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) over (111) silicon substrates. Device epilayers were fabricated using unique combination of molecular beam epitaxy and low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition growth procedure in selective areas defined by openings in a SiO2 mask over the substrates. This selective area deposition procedure in principle can produce multicolor devices using a very simple fabrication procedure. The LEDs had a peak emission wavelength of 465 nm with a full width at half maximum of 40 nm. We also present the spectral emission data with the diodes operating up to 250 °C. The peak emission wavelengths are measured as a function of both dc and pulse bias current and plate temperature to estimate the thermal impedance.

Optimization of white polychromatic semiconductor lamps

A stochastic method of optimization of a white-light source that relies on additive color mixing of the emissions from colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was developed. The method allows for finding the optimal wavelengths of LEDs in order to obtain the best possible trade off between luminous efficacy and the general color rendering index (CRI) of the white source for an arbitrary number of primary LEDs. Optimal solid-state lamps composed of two, three, four, and five different LEDs were analyzed. We show that a dichromatic LED lamp can only provide high efficacy with a general CRI close to zero, whereas trichromatic and quadrichromatic lamps are able to cover the entire range of reasonable general CRI values. The optimization of quintichromatic LED lamps and lamps with a higher number of primary color LEDs yields a negligible benefit in improving CRI but provides for quasicontinuous spectra that might be required for special lighting needs.

High-efficiency 269 nm emission deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

We report on 269 nm emission deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) over sapphire. The material quality, device design, and contact processing sequence yielded devices with external quantum efficiencies as high as 0.4% for a pumped pulse current of 200 mA and 0.32% for a dc pump current of 10 mA. For a module of two LEDs connected in series, a record continuous-wave power of 0.85 mW (at 40 mA) and a wall plug efficiency of 0.16% (at 10 mA dc) were measured.

Lattice and energy band engineering in AlInGaN/GaN heterostructures

We report on structural, optical, and electrical properties of AlxInyGa1−x−yNGaN heterostructures grown on sapphire and 6H–SiC substrates. Our results demonstrate that incorporation of In reduces the lattice mismatch, Δa, between AlInGaN and GaN, and that an In to Al ratio of close to 1:5 results in nearly strain-free heterostructures. The observed reduction in band gap, ΔEg, determined from photoluminescence measurements, is more than 1.5 times higher than estimated from the linear dependencies of Δa and ΔEg on the In molar fraction. The incorporation of In and resulting changes in the built-in strain in AlInGaN/GaN heterostructures strongly affect the transport properties of the two-dimensional electron gas at the heterointerface. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of strain energy band engineering for GaN-based electronic applications.