Electric-stress reliability and current collapse of different thickness SiNx passivated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

This paper investigates the impact of electrical degradation and current collapse on different thickness SiNx passivated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors.It finds that higher thickness SiNx passivation can significantly improve the high-electric-field reliability of a device.The degradation mechanism of the SiNx passivation layer under ON-state stress has also been discussed in detail.Under the ON-state stress,the strong electric-field led to degradation of SiNx passivation located in the gate-drain region.As the thickness of SiNx passivation increases,the density of the surface state will be increased to some extent.Meanwhile,it is found that the high NH 3 flow in the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition process could reduce the surface state and suppress the current collapse.     

Effects of SiNx on two-dimensional electron gas and current collapse of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

SiN_x is commonly used as a passivation material for AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). In this paper, the effects of SiN_x passivation film on both two-dimensional electron gas characteristics and current collapse of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs are investigated. The SiN_x films are deposited by high- and low-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition, and they display different strains on the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure, which can explain the experiment results.     

High power-added-efficiency AlGaN/GaN HEMTs fabricated by atomic level controlled etching

An atomic-level controlled etching(ACE)technology is invstigated for the fabrication of recessed gate AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors(HEMTs)with high power added efficiency.We compare the recessed gate HEMTs with conventional etching(CE)based chlorine,Cl₂-only ACE and BCl³/Cl₂ACE,respectively.The mixed radicals of BCl₃/Cl₂were used as the active reactants in the step of chemical modification.For ensuring precise and controllable etching depth and low etching damage,the kinetic energy of argon ions was accurately controlled.These argon ions were used precisely to remove the chemical modified surface atomic layer.Compared to the HEMTs with CE,the characteristics of devices fabricated by ACE are significantly improved,which benefits from significant reduction of etching damage.For BCl₃/Cl₂ACE recessed HEMTs,the load pull test at 17 GHz shows a high power added efficiency(PAE)of 59.8%with an output power density of 1.6 W/mm at Vd=10 V,and a peak PAE of 44.8%with an output power density of 3.2 W/mm at Vd=20 V in a continuous-wave mode.     

C-V analysis of rapidly thermal annealed SF6 plasma treated AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

We studied influence of rapid thermal annealing on electrical parameters of SF₆ plasma treated AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. The main emphasis by the evaluation was laid on C-V measurement and simulation, but also I-V and SIMS measurement were used. It was found that the diminished sheet carrier concentration of a two-dimensional electron gas after plasma treatment recovered significantly at the temperature of 500 °C. By using C-V measurement, it was possible to assess besides the changes of the two-dimensional electron gas concentration after annealing also the changes in the Schottky barrier heights and to find out the doping concentration in AlGaN barrier and GaN channel layer. The trend in Schottky barrier height changes after annealing was confirmed also by I-V measurement.     

Structural and optoelectronic properties of amorphous GaN thin films

Amorphous gallium nitride (a-GaN) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by electron beam evaporation technique at room temperature and high vacuum using N ₂ as carrier gas. The structural properties of the films was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was clear from XRD spectra and SEM study that the GaN thin films were amorphous. The absorbance, transmittance and reflectance spectra of these films were measured in the wavelength range of 300–2200 nm. The absorption coefficient spectral analysis in the sharp absorption region revealed a direct band gap of E _g = 3:1 eV. The data analysis allowed the determination of the dispersive optical parameters by calculating the refractive index. The oscillator energy E ₀ and the dispersion energy E _d, which is a measure of the average strength of inter-band optical transition or the oscillator strength, were determined. Electrical conductivity of a-GaN was measured in a different range of temperatures. Then, activation energy of a-GaN thin films was calculated which equalled E _a = 0:434 eV.     

Luminescence in GaN co-doped with carbon and silicon

GaN samples, containing various concentrations of carbon and doped intentionally with silicon, have been grown heteroepitaxially on sapphire using metal-organic-chemical-vapor deposition. Previous electrical and optical data, together with Density Functional calculations, have suggested that carbon is incorporated at acceptor and donor substitutional sites in this material; the relative importance of each is determined by the Fermi level position and the growth conditions. Here the luminescence behavior of these materials is examined in more detail, including spectral, temperature, and time dependences under ultraviolet light and electron beam excitation conditions. Particular attention is given to the commonly observed “yellow band” at , a blue luminescence at seen only in samples where carbon is the majority dopant, and ultraviolet bands near . Our data suggest that the latter two bands are both donor-acceptor related with the final state being the negatively charged state of a carbon atom substituting for nitrogen. In samples where carbon is the majority dopant, extended luminescence excitation at low temperatures results in large changes in the brightness of the yellow and blue luminescence bands. These effects are similar to other recent observations of luminescence metastability in high resistivity GaN, and we suggest that carbon plays a crucial role in this phenomenon.     

Large near resonance third order nonlinearity in GaN

We have studied third order nonlinearities, including two-photon absorption coefficient and nonlinear refractive index n ₂, of GaN in below bandgap ultraviolet (UV) wavelength regime by using UV femtosecond pulses. Two-photon absorption was investigated by demonstrating femtosecond UV pulsewidth autocorrelation in a GaN thin film while femtosecond Z-scan measurements revealed information for both n ₂ and . The distribution of n ₂ versus wavelength was found to be consistent with a model described by the quadratic Stark effect, which is the dominant factor contributed to the nonlinear refractive index near the bandgap. Large on the order of 10 cm/GW and large negative n ₂ with a magnitude on the order of several 10^–12 cm²/W were obtained. The at near mid-gap infrared (IR) wavelength was also found to be on the order of several cm/GW by using two-photon-type autocorrelations in a GaN thin film. Taking advantage of the large two-photon absorption at mid-gap wavelengths, we have demonstrated excellent image quality on two-photon confocal microscopy, including two-photon-scanning-photoluminescence imaging and two-photon optical-beam-induced current microscopy, on a GaN Hall measurement sample and an InGaN green light emitting diode.     

GaN FP-HEMTs中击穿电压与电流崩塌的关系

研究了钝化在抑制电流崩塌的同时，会引起HEMT器件击穿电压的下降.而采用场板结构的AlGaN/GaN场板HEMT器件(FP-HEMT)的击穿电压从46V提高到了148V，表明了场板对提高击穿电压有显著作用(3倍以上).接着，比较了FP-HEMT器件与常规HEMT器件，钝化后HEMT器件在应力前后的电流崩塌程度，得出了采用场板结构比之钝化对器件抑制电流崩塌有更明显作用的结论.从理论上和实验上都表明，采用场板结构能够很好解决提高击穿电压与抑制电流崩塌之间的矛盾. 关键词： GaN 场板 击穿电压 电流崩塌     

Exciton localization behaviour in different well width undoped GaN/Al0.07Ga0.93N nanostructures

We report results from optical spectroscopy such as photoluminescence (PL) and time resolved photo-luminescence (TRPL) techniques from different well width MOCVD grown GaN/Al_0.07Ga_0.93N MQW samples. There is evidence of localization at low temperature in all samples. The decay time of all samples becomes non-exponential when the detection energy is increased with respect to the peak of the emission. Localization of carriers (excitons) is demonstrated by the “S-shape” dependences of the PL peak energies on the temperature. The time-resolved PL spectra of the 3-nm well multi quantum wells reveal that the spectral peak position shifts toward lower energies as the decay time increases and becomes red-shifted at longer decay times. There is a gradient in the PL decay time across the emission peak profile, so that the PL process at low temperatures is a free electron-localized hole transition.     

MOCVD制备InxGa1－xN/GaN MQWs的温度依赖性

利用方势阱模型对In_xGa_1－xN/GaN MQWs结构的光特性进行了量子力学定性理论分析.并在MO源流量恒定条件下，在570℃～640℃范围内进行了不同生长温度的多量子阱制备实验，对In_xGa_1－xN制备过程中的In组份掺入效率的温度依赖关系进行研究.通过对制备样品的PL谱测量分析，得到了587℃～600℃的In组份最佳掺入温度区间.