An AlGaN/GaN HEMT with enhanced breakdown and near-zero breakdown voltage temperature coefficient

An AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with a novel source-connected air-bridge field plate (AFP) is experimentally verified. The device features a metal field plate that jumps from the source over the gate region and lands between the gate and drain. When compared to a similar size HEMT device with conventional field plate (CFP) structure, the AFP not only minimizes the parasitic gate to source capacitance, but also exhibits higher OFF-state breakdown voltage and one order of magnitude lower drain leakage current. In a device with a gate to drain distance of 6 μm and a gate length of 0.8 μm, three times higher forward blocking voltage of 375 V was obtained at V_GS=-5 V. In contrast, a similar sized HEMT with CFP can only achieve a breakdown voltage no higher than 125 V using this process, regardless of device dimensions. Moreover, a temperature coefficient of 0 V/K for the breakdown voltage is observed. However, devices without field plate (no FP) and with optimized conventional field plate (CFP) exhibit breakdown voltage temperature coefficients of -0.113 V/K and -0.065 V/K, respectively.     

An AlGaN/GaN HEMT with reduced surface electric field and improved breakdown voltage

A reduced surface electric field in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is investigated by employing a localized Mg-doped layer under the two-dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) channel as an electric field shaping layer. The electric field strength around the gate edge is effectively relieved and the surface electric field is distributed evenly as compared with those of HEMTs with conventional source-connected field plate and double field plate structures with the same device physical dimensions. Compared with the HEMTs with conventional source-connected field plate and double field plate, the HEMT with Mg-doped layer also shows that the breakdown location shifts from the surface of the gate edge to the bulk Mg-doped layer edge. By optimizing both the length of Mg-doped layer, L_m, and the doping concentration, a 5.5 times and 3 times the reduction in the peak electric field near the drain side gate edge is observed as compared with those of the HEMTs with source-connected field plate structure and double field plate structure, respectively. In a device with V_GS=-5 V, L_m=1.5 μm, a peak Mg doping concentration of 8× 10¹⁷ cm^-3 and a drift region length of 10 μm, the breakdown voltage is observed to increase from 560 V in a conventional device without field plate structure to over 900 V without any area overhead penalty.     

An AlGaN/GaN HEMT with a reduced surface electric field and an improved breakdown voltage

A reduced surface electric field in an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor(HEMT) is investigated by employing a localized Mg-doped layer under the two-dimensional electron gas(2-DEG) channel as an electric field shaping layer.The electric field strength around the gate edge is effectively relieved and the surface electric field is distributed evenly as compared with those of HEMTs with conventional source-connected field plate and double field plate structures with the same device physical dimensions.Compared with the HEMTs with conventional sourceconnected field plates and double field plates,the HEMT with a Mg-doped layer also shows that the breakdown location shifts from the surface of the gate edge to the bulk Mg-doped layer edge.By optimizing both the length of Mg-doped layer,L m,and the doping concentration,a 5.5 times and 3 times the reduction in the peak electric field near the drain side gate edge is observed as compared with those of the HEMTs with source-connected field plate structure and double field plate structure,respectively.In a device with V GS = -5 V,L m = 1.5 μm,a peak Mg doping concentration of 8×10 17cm-3 and a drift region length of 10 μm,the breakdown voltage is observed to increase from 560 V in a conventional device without field plate structure to over 900 V without any area overhead penalty.     

Reverse blocking characteristics and mechanisms in Schottky-drain AlGaN/GaN HEMT with a drain field plate and floating field plates

In this paper, a novel Al Ga N/Ga N HEMT with a Schottky drain and a compound field plate(SD-CFP HEMT) is presented for the purpose of better reverse blocking capability. The compound field plate(CFP) consists of a drain field plate(DFP) and several floating field plates(FFPs). The physical mechanisms of the CFP to improve the reverse breakdown voltage and to modulate the distributions of channel electric field and potential are investigated by two-dimensional numerical simulations with Silvaco-ATLAS. Compared with the HEMT with a Schottky drain(SD HEMT) and the HEMT with a Schottky drain and a DFP(SD-FP HEMT), the superiorities of SD-CFP HEMT lie in the continuous improvement of the reverse breakdown voltage by increasing the number of FFPs and in the same fabrication procedure as the SD-FP HEMT.Two useful optimization laws for the SD-CFP HEMTs are found and extracted from simulation results. The relationship between the number of the FFPs and the reverse breakdown voltage as well as the FP efficiency in SD-CFP HEMTs are discussed. The results in this paper demonstrate a great potential of CFP for enhancing the reverse blocking ability in Al Ga N/Ga N HEMT and may be of great value and significance in the design and actual manufacture of SD-CFP HEMTs.     

高击穿电压的AlGaN/GaN FP-HEMT研究与分析

就蓝宝石衬底上制备的AlGaN/GaN场板(field plate)HEMT器件、常规HEMT器件性能进行了分析对比.结果证明两种结构的器件直流参数变化不大，但是采用场板后器件的击穿电压从52V提高到了142V.在此基础上利用Sivaco软件对两种器件进行模拟仿真，深入分析了FP对器件击穿电压的影响.     

Effect of gate length on breakdown voltage in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor

The effects of gate length L_G on breakdown voltage VBRare investigated in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors(HEMTs) with L_G= 1 μm~20 μm. With the increase of L_G, VBRis first increased, and then saturated at LG= 3 μm. For the HEMT with L_G= 1 μm, breakdown voltage VBRis 117 V, and it can be enhanced to 148 V for the HEMT with L-_G= 3 μm. The gate length of 3 μm can alleviate the buffer-leakage-induced impact ionization compared with the gate length of 1 μm, and the suppression of the impact ionization is the reason for improving the breakdown voltage.A similar suppression of the impact ionization exists in the HEMTs with LG 3 μm. As a result, there is no obvious difference in breakdown voltage among the HEMTs with LG= 3 μm~20 μm, and their breakdown voltages are in a range of 140 V–156 V.     

Influence of a drain field plate on the forward blocking characteristics of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor

In this paper,the influence of a drain field plate(FP)on the forward blocking characteristics of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor(HEMT)is investigated.The HEMT with only a gate FP is optimized,and breakdown voltage VBRis saturated at 1085 V for gate–drain spacing LGD≥8μm.On the basis of the HEMT with a gate FP,a drain FP is added with LGD=10μm.For the length of the drain FP LDF≤2μm,VBRis almost kept at 1085 V,showing no degradation.When LDFexceeds 2μm,VBRdecreases obviously as LDFincreases.Moreover,the larger the LDF,the larger the decrease of VBR.It is concluded that the distance between the gate edge and the drain FP edge should be larger than a certain value to prevent the drain FP from affecting the forward blocking voltage and the value should be equal to the LGDat which VBR begins to saturate in the first structure.The electric field and potential distribution are simulated and analyzed to account for the decrease of VBR.     

Analysis of the modulation mechanisms of the electric field and breakdown performance in AlGaN/GaN HEMT with a T-shaped field-plate

A novel Al Ga N/Ga N high electron mobility transistor(HEMT) with a source-connected T-shaped field-plate(ST-FP HEMT) is proposed for the first time in this paper. The source-connected T-shaped field-plate(ST-FP) is composed of a source-connected field-plate(S-FP) and a trench metal. The physical intrinsic mechanisms of the ST-FP to improve the breakdown voltage and the FP efficiency and to modulate the distributions of channel electric field and potential are studied in detail by means of two-dimensional numerical simulations with Silvaco-ATLAS. A comparison to the HEMT and the HEMT with an S-FP(S-FP HEMT) shows that the ST-FP HEMT could achieve a broader and more uniform channel electric field distribution with the help of a trench metal, which could increase the breakdown voltage and the FP efficiency remarkably. In addition, the relationship between the structure of the ST-FP, the channel electric field, the breakdown voltage as well as the FP efficiency in ST-FP HEMT is analyzed. These results could open up a new effective method to fabricate high voltage power devices for the power electronic applications.     

使用AlN/GaN超晶格势垒层生长高Al组分AlGaN/GaN HEMT结构

在蓝宝石衬底上生长了以AlN/GaN超晶格准AlGaN合金作为势垒的HEMT结构材料,并与传统AlGaN合金势垒样品进行了对比.在高Al组分(≥40%)情况下,超晶格势垒样品的表面形貌明显改进,电学性能特别是2DEG面电子浓度也有所改进.对超晶格势垒生长参数进行了初步优化,使得HEMT结构薄层电阻进一步降低,最后获得了251 Ω/□的薄层电阻. 关键词： AlGaN/GaN 结构 AlN/GaN超晶格 二维电子气 高电子迁移率晶体管     

增强型AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管高温退火研究

深入研究了两种增强型AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管(HEMT)高温退火前后的直流特性变化.槽栅增强型AlGaN/GaN HEMT在500 ℃ N₂中退火5 min后,阈值电压由0.12 V正向移动到0.57 V,器件Schottky反向栅漏电流减小一个数量级.F注入增强型AlGaN/GaN HEMT在 400 ℃ N₂中退火2 min后,器件阈值电压由0.23 V负向移动到-0.69 V,栅泄漏电流明显增大.槽栅增强型器件退火过程中Schottky有效势垒     

Modeling and analysis of fully strained and partially relaxed lattice mismatched AlGaN/GaN HEMT for high temperature applications

The paper presents an accurate charge control model for a fully strained (FS), and partially relaxed (PR) lattice mismatched AlGaN/GaN HEMT, taking into consideration the effect of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization. The model also accounts for the mobility degradation with increase in temperature, which is one of the major causes in deterioration of the driving current. By using the variation of band gap with temperature, the temperature dependence on threshold voltage, sheet carrier concentration and drain current is studied. Further, the temperature variation shows the applicability of the device in a variable thermal environment. A close agreement of calculated data with simulated/experimental data proves the validity of the model.     

Reverse blocking enhancement of drain field plate in Schottky-drain AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors

In this paper, we present the combination of drain field plate(FP) and Schottky drain to improve the reverse blocking capability, and investigate the reverse blocking enhancement of drain FP in Schottky-drain AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors(HEMTs). Drain FP and gate FP were employed in a two-dimensional simulation to improve the reverse blocking voltage(VRB) and the forward blocking voltage(VFB). The drain-FP length, the gate-FP length and the passivation layer thickness were optimized. VRBand VFBwere improved from-67 V and 134 V to-653 V and 868 V respectively after optimization. Simulation results suggest that the combination of drain FP and Schottky drain can enhance the reverse blocking capability significantly.     

High temperature characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

Direct current (DC) and pulsed measurements are performed to determine the degradation mechanisms of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) under high temperature. The degradation of the DC characteristics is mainly attributed to the reduction in the density and the mobility of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). The pulsed measurements indicate that the trap assisted tunneling is the dominant gate leakage mechanism in the temperature range of interest. The traps in the barrier layer become active as the temperature increases, which is conducive to the electron tunneling between the gate and the channel. The enhancement of the tunneling results in the weakening of the current collapse effects, as the electrons trapped by the barrier traps can escape more easily at the higher temperature.     

阶梯AlGaN外延新型Al_(0.25)Ga_(0.75)N/GaNHEMTs击穿特性分析

为了优化AlGaN/GaN HEMTs器件表面电场,提高击穿电压,本文首次提出了一种新型阶梯AlGaN/GaN HEMTs结构.新结构利用AlGaN/GaN异质结形成的2DEG浓度随外延AlGaN层厚度降低而减小的规律,通过减薄靠近栅边缘外延的AlGaN层,使沟道2DEG浓度分区,形成栅边缘低浓度2DEG区,低的2DEG使阶梯AlGaN交界出现新的电场峰,新电场峰的出现有效降低了栅边缘的高峰电场,优化了AlGaN/GaN HEMTs器件的表面电场分布,使器件击穿电压从传统结构的446 V,提高到新结构的640 V.为了获得与实际测试结果一致的击穿曲线,本文在GaN缓冲层中设定了一定浓度的受主型缺陷,通过仿真分析验证了国际上外延GaN缓冲层时掺入受主型离子的原因,并通过仿真分析获得了与实际测试结果一致的击穿曲线.     

AlGaN/GaN槽栅HEMT模拟与实验研究

分析了栅槽深度对AlGaN/GaN HEMT特性的影响,并对不同栅槽深度的器件特性进行了模拟,得到了器件饱和电流、最大跨导和阈值电压随栅槽深度的变化规律.当槽栅深度增大,器件饱和电流逐渐下降,而最大跨导逐渐增大,阈值电压向X轴正方向移动.研制出不同栅槽深度的蓝宝石衬底AlGaN/GaN HEMT,用实验数据验证了得到的不同栅槽深度器件特性变化规律.从刻蚀损伤和刻蚀引入界面态的角度分析了模拟与实验规律产生差别的原因. 关键词： 高电子迁移率晶体管 AlGaN/GaN 槽栅器件     

具有p-GaN岛状埋层耐压结构的横向AlGaN/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管

GaN基高电子迁移率晶体管(HEMT)相对较低的击穿电压严重限制了其大功率应用.为了进一步改善器件的击穿特性,通过在n-GaN外延缓冲层中引入六个等间距p-GaN岛掩埋缓冲层(PIBL)构成p-n结,提出一种基于p-GaN埋层结构的新型高耐压AlGaN/GaN HEMT器件结构.Sentaurus TCAD仿真结果表明,在关态高漏极电压状态下,p-GaN埋层引入的多个反向p-n结不仅能够有效调制PIBL AlGaN/GaN HEMT的表面电场和体电场分布,而且对于缓冲层泄漏电流有一定的抑制作用,这保证了栅漏间距为10μm的PIBL HEMT能够达到超过1700 V的高击穿电压(BV),是常规结构AlGaN/GaN HEMT击穿电压(580 V)的3倍.同时,PIBL结构AlGaN/GaN HEMT的特征导通电阻仅为1.47 m?·cm~2,因此获得了高达1966 MW·cm~(-2)的品质因数(FOM=BV~2/R_(on,sp)).相比于常规的AlGaN/GaN HEMT,基于新型p-GaN埋岛结构的HEMT器件在保持较低特征导通电阻的同时具有更高的击穿电压,这使得该结构在高功率电力电子器件领域具有很好的应用前景.     

F离子注入新型Al0．25Ga0．75N／GaNHEMT器件耐压分析

为了缓解AlGaN／GaNhighelectronmobilitytransistors（HEMT）器件n型GaN缓冲层高的泄漏电流,本文提出了具有氟离子注入新型Al0．25Ga0．75N／GaNHEMT器件新结构．首先分析得出n型GaN缓冲层没有受主型陷阱时,器件输出特性为欧姆特性,这样就从理论和仿真方面解释了文献生长GaN缓冲层掺杂Fe,Mg等离子的原因．利用器件输出特性分别分析了栅边缘有和没有低掺杂漏极时,氟离子分别注入源区、栅极区域和漏区的情况,得出当氟离子注入源区时,形成的受主型陷阱能有效俘获源极发射的电子而减小GaN缓冲层的泄漏电流,击穿电压达到262v通过减小GaN缓冲层体泄漏电流,提高器件击穿电压,设计具有一定输出功率新型A1GaN／GaNHEMT提供了科学依据．     

AlGaN/GaN场板结构高电子迁移率晶体管的场板尺寸优化分析

对不同场板尺寸的AlGaN/GaN 场板结构高电子迁移率晶体管进行了研究,建立简化模型分析场板长度对沟道电场分布的影响.结果表明,调整钝化层厚度和场板长度都可以调制沟道电场的分布形状,当场板长度较小时,随着长度的增大器件击穿电压随之增加,而当长度增大到一定程度后器件击穿电压不再增加.通过优化场板长度,器件击穿电压提高了64%,且实验结果与模拟结果相符. 关键词： AlGaN/GaN 击穿电压 场板长度     

Time-dependent degradation of threshold voltage in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

This paper gives a detailed analysis of the time-dependent degradation of the threshold voltage in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) submitted to off-state stress. The threshold voltage shows a positive shift in the early stress, then turns to a negative shift. The negative shift of the threshold voltage seems to have a long recovery time. A model related with the balance of electron trapping and detrapping induced by shallow donors and deep acceptors is proposed to explain this degradation mode.