In-situ SiN combined with etch-stop barrier structure for high-frequency AlGaN/GaN HEMT

The etch-stop structure including the in-situ SiN and AlGaN/GaN barrier is proposed for high frequency applications.The etch-stop process is realized by placing an in-situ SiN layer on the top of the thin AlGaN barrier.F-based etching can be self-terminated after removing SiN,leaving the AlGaN barrier in the gate region.With this in-situ SiN and thin barrier etch-stop structure,the short channel effect can be suppressed,meanwhile achieving highly precisely controlled and low damage etching process.The device shows a maximum drain current of 1022 mA/mm,a peak transconductance of 459 mS/mm,and a maximum oscillation frequency(fmax)of 248 GHz.     

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

Ultra-thin barrier (UTB) 4-nm-AlGaN/GaN normally-off high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) having a high current gain cut-off frequency (f_T) are demonstrated by the stress-engineered compressive SiN trench technology. The compressive in-situ SiN guarantees the UTB-AlGaN/GaN heterostructure can operate a high electron density of 1.27×10¹³cm^-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 SiN in the 600-nm SiN 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 mA/mm and a high transconductance of 394 mS/mm for the E-mode devices. Most of all, a high f_T/f_max of 128 GHz/255 GHz is obtained, which is the highest value among the reported E-mode AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Besides, being together with the 211 GHz/346 GHz of f_T/f_max for the D-mode HEMTs fabricated on the same materials, this design of E/D-mode with the realization of f_max 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 SiN trench, will promise an enormous competitive advantage in the fabricating costs.