AlGaN channel MIS-HEMTs with a very high breakdown electric field and excellent high-temperature performance

Abstract

We report on AlGaN channel metal-insulator-semiconductor high electron mobility transistors (MIS-HEMTs) for the first time. The insulator of 10-nm SiN x was deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, which induced a low reverse and forward Schottky leakage. A very high breakdown electric field of 1.8 MV/cm was reached with a gatedrain distance of 2 µm. The breakdown voltage increased non-linearly with the gate-drain distance and reached 1661 V with a gate-drain distance of 20 µm. As temperature increases from 25 to 275°C, the saturation drain current decreases slightly by 20% from 211 to 169 mA/mm and the onresistance increases only by 24%.

Research Progress in Breakdown Enhancement for GaN-Based High-Electron-Mobility Transistors

“…Specifically, the adoption of an MIS structure reduces the forward and reverse leakage currents by one order and four orders of magnitude, respectively. The low gate leakage current provides the device with excellent breakdown characteristics, which not only achieves a breakdown field strength of 1.8 MV/cm, but also a relatively small increase in its specific on-resistance at high temperatures [36]. As shown in Figure 11, an HEMT device with gate insulators fabricated using fluoride ion implantation was combined with 17 nm SiNx thin film deposited using plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), which achieved a threshold voltage of +3.6 V, a specific on-resistance of 2.1 mΩcm 2 , and a breakdown voltage of 604 V [13].…”

“…Specifically, the adoption of an MIS structure reduces the forward and reverse leakage currents by one order and four orders of magnitude, respectively. The low gate leakage current provides the device with excellent breakdown characteristics, which not only achieves a breakdown field strength of 1.8 MV/cm, but also a relatively small increase in its specific on-resistance at high temperatures [36].…”

“…Specifically, the adoption of an MIS structure reduces the forward and reverse leakage currents by one order and four orders of magnitude, respectively. The low gate leakage current provides the device with excellent breakdown characteristics, which not only achieves a breakdown field strength of 1.8 MV/cm, but also a relatively small increase in its specific on-resistance at high temperatures [36]. As shown in Figure 13, the SiNx thin film deposited using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) at 780 °C is used to replace PECVD-SiNx thin film as the gate dielectric layer of the device.…”

Effect of geometry on the sensing mechanism of GaN Schottky barrier diode temperature sensor

“…The GaN Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) possess strong nonlinear (rectification) effect, simple fabrication process, and easy to integrate with other units have been applicated in many different areas such as power switching, terahertz sources and detectors, microwave rectifier and so on [5][6][7]. However, the high power and high frequency work condition usually generates serious heat dissipation and then results in a high junction temperature [8][9][10]. Theoretically, the electrical characteristics of Schottky contact follow thermionic emission (TE) model and will be affected by temperature significantly.…”

In-situ-SiN/AlN/Al0.05Ga0.95N High Electron-Mobility Transistors on Si-Substrate Using Al2O3/SiO2 Passivation

“…Moreover, the AlGaN channel instead of the GaN channel can improve the breakdown characteristics and shift the threshold voltage to a positive value for normally-off devices [6], [10]. Compared to GaN-channel HEMTs, AlGaN-channel HEMTs exhibit a superior thermal stability in the DC performance at elevated temperatures because of the weaker mobility degradation for the AlGaN channel heterostructure [6], [11], [12]. Until now, however, studies of AlN/AlGaN HEMTs, which are fabricated on commercial large-size Si substrates, have rarely been reported.…”