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2D study of AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN HEMTs’ response to traps

A. Hezabra1, N. A. Abdeslam1, N. Sengouga1, and M. C. E. Yagoub2

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 Corresponding author: N. Sengouga, Email: n.sengouga@univ-biskra.dz, nourseng2015@gmail.com

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Abstract: In this work, the effects of GaN channel traps and temperature on the performance of AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on Si (111) substrate, were investigated. 2D simulations carried out using the Silvaco TCAD simulator tool for different drain and gate voltages showed that acceptor-like traps in the channel have a significant influence on the DC and RF characteristics. It was found that deeper acceptors below the conduction band with larger concentration have a more pronounced effect on the transistor performance. Meanwhile, the donor-like traps show no influence. Pulsing the device with different pulse widths and bias conditions, as well as increasing temperature, showed that the traps are more ionized when the pulse is wider or the temperature is higher, which can degrade the drain current and thus the DC characteristics of the transistor. Passivation of the transistor has also a beneficial effect on performance.

Key words: AlGaN HEMTAlGAN/AlN/GaN structure, silicon substrateSilvacotrapping effectschannel traps



[1]
Adarsh N, Thirumaleshwara N B, Saravanan R, et al. Effect of self-heating on electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMT on Si (111) substrate. Advances, 2017, 7: 085015
[2]
Subramani N K, Sahoo A K, Nallatamby J C, et al. Systematic study of traps in AlN/GaN/AlGaNHEMTs on SiC substrate by numerical TCAD simulation. IEEE Confrence on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics (PRIME), Lisbon, Portugal, 2016
[3]
Zhu J J, Ma X H, Hou B, et al. Investigation of trap states in high Al content AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors by frequency dependent capacitance and conductance analysis. Advances, 2014, 4: 037108
[4]
Wang A. Thermal, stress, and traps effects in AlGaN/GaNHEMTs. PhD Thesis, Polytechnic University of Madrid, 2014
[5]
Medjdoub F, Zegaoui M, Rolland N, et al. Demonstration of low leakage current and high polarization in ultrathin AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors grown on silicon substrate. Appl Phys Lett, 2011, 98: 223502 doi: 10.1063/1.3595943
[6]
Medjdoub F, Derluyn J, Cheng K, et al. Low on resistance high-breakdown normally off AlN/GaN/AlGaN DHFET on Si substrate. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2010, 31: 111 doi: 10.1109/LED.2009.2037719
[7]
Zimmermann T, Deen D, Cao Y, et al. AlN/GaN insulated-gate HEMTs with 2.3 A/mm output current and 480 mS/mm transconductance. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2008, 29, 661 doi: 10.1109/LED.2008.923318
[8]
Tang Y. et al, "Ultrahigh-speed GaN high-electron-mobility transistors with fT/fmax of 454/444 GHz. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2015, 36, 549 doi: 10.1109/LED.2015.2421311
[9]
Huque M, Eliza S, Rahman T, et al. Temperature dependent analytical model for current-voltage characteristics of AlGaN/GaN power HEMT. Solid-State Electron, 2009,. 53, 341 doi: 10.1016/j.sse.2009.01.004
[10]
Huq H, Islam S. AlGaN/GaN self-aligned MODFET with metal oxide gate for millimeter wave application. Microelectron J, 2006,. 37, 579 doi: 10.1016/j.mejo.2005.09.021
[11]
Chang Y, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, et al. A thermal model for static current characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors including self-heating effect. J Appl Phys, 2006.. 99, 044501 doi: 10.1063/1.2171776
[12]
Chang Y, Tong K, Surya C. Numerical simulation of current/voltage characteristics of AlGaN/GaNHEMTs at high temperatures. Semicond Sci Technol, 2005,. 20, 188 doi: 10.1088/0268-1242/20/2/016
[13]
Vitanov S, Palankovski V, Maroldt S, et al. High-temperature modeling of AlGaN/GaNHEMTs. Solid-State Electron, 2010,. 54, 1105 doi: 10.1016/j.sse.2010.05.026
[14]
Silvaco, Atlas user’s manual device simulation software, 2015
[15]
Fossum J G, Mertens R P, Lee D S, et al. Carrier recombination and lifetime in highly doped silicon. Solid-State Electron, 1983,. 26, 569. doi: 10.1016/0038-1101(83)90173-9
[16]
Ambacher O, Foutz B, Smart J, et al. Two-dimensional electron gases induced by spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization charges in N-and Ga-face AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. J Appl Phys, 1999,. 85, 3222 doi: 10.1063/1.369664
[17]
Rashmi, Abhinav K, Haldar S, et al. An accurate charge control model for spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization dependent two-dimensional electron gas sheet charge density of lattice-mismatched AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Solid-State Electron, 2002,. 46, 621 doi: 10.1016/S0038-1101(01)00332-X
[18]
Cho J, Li Z J, Bozorg-Grayeli E, et al. Thermal characterization of composite GaN substrates for HEMT applications. Government Microcircuit Appl & Critical Technol Conf (GomacTech), Las-Vegas, Nevada, 2012
[19]
Albrecht J D, Wang R P, Ruden P P, et al. Electron transport characteristics of GaN for high temperature device modeling. J Appl Phys, 1998,. 83, 4777 doi: 10.1063/1.367269
[20]
Kim H, Thompson R M, Tilak V, et al. Effects of SiN passivation and high-electric field on AlGaN/GaN HFET degradation. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2003,. 24, 421 doi: 10.1109/LED.2003.813375
[21]
Rudiger Q. Gallium nitride electronics. Springer Series in Materials Science, 2008
[22]
Ibbetson J P, Fini P T, Ness K D, et al. Polarisation effects, surface states, and the source of electrons in AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors. Appl Phys Lett, 2000,. 77, 250 doi: 10.1063/1.126940
[23]
He X G, Zhao D G, Jiang D S. Formation of two-dimensional electron gas at AlGaN/GaN heterostructure and the derivation of its sheet density expression. Chin Phys B, 2015,. 24, 067301 doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/24/6/067301
Fig. 1.  (Color online) Cross-section of the AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN HEMT structure simulated in this work.

Fig. 2.  (Color online) Simulated (a) DC characteristics for different gate-source voltages and (b) transfer characteristics in the presence of acceptor and donor traps in the GaN channel compared to the case with no traps. Trap energy level is 0.3 eV below Ec for the acceptor and 0.3 eV above Ev for the donor.

Fig. 3.  (Color online) Influence of acceptor traps located below the conductance band on the (a) output characteristics, (b) transfer characteristics, and (c) transconductance of the AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN HEMT device at Vds = 5 V. Acceptor traps in the GaN channel have a density of 5 × 1017 cm−3.

Fig. 4.  (Color online) Influence of acceptor trap concentration on the (a) output and (b) transfer characteristics and (c) the transconductance of the device. Acceptor traps in the channel are located at Eta = 0.3 eV. The drain voltage is Vds = 5 V.

Fig. 5.  (Color online) Passivated and unpassivated structures under the same bias conditions. (a) The output and (b) transfer characteristics and (c) the transconductance of the device. Acceptor traps in the channel have a density of Nta = 5 × 1017 cm−3 and are located at Eta = 0.3 eV below the conduction band.

Fig. 6.  (Color online) Influence of the temperature variations on (a) DC characteristics, (b) transfer characteristics, and (c) the transconductance of the device in the presence of acceptor traps (Nta = 5 × 1017 cm−3, Eta = 0.3 eV).

Fig. 8.  Drain current recovery curve after bias stressing on the gate (Vgs = 0, −5 V and Vds = 10 V) in the presence of acceptor-like traps (Nta = 5 × 1017 cm−3, Eta = 0.3 eV).

Fig. 7.  Drain current recovery curve after bias stressing with a pulse width of 1 ms on the gate (Vgs = 0, −5 V and Vds = 25 V) in the presence of acceptor-like traps (Nta = 5 × 1017 cm−3, Eta = 0.3 eV).

Table 1.   Summary of the material parameters used in the simulations.

Material parameter GaN AlGaN AlN
Band gap (eV) 3.42 3.91 6.12
Effective conduction band
density of state (1018 cm−3)
2.24 2.7 4.42
Relative permittivity 9.5 8.5
Electron affinity (eV) 4 1.84
Electron saturation
velocity (106 cm/s)
7.5 15
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[1]
Adarsh N, Thirumaleshwara N B, Saravanan R, et al. Effect of self-heating on electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMT on Si (111) substrate. Advances, 2017, 7: 085015
[2]
Subramani N K, Sahoo A K, Nallatamby J C, et al. Systematic study of traps in AlN/GaN/AlGaNHEMTs on SiC substrate by numerical TCAD simulation. IEEE Confrence on PhD Research in Microelectronics and Electronics (PRIME), Lisbon, Portugal, 2016
[3]
Zhu J J, Ma X H, Hou B, et al. Investigation of trap states in high Al content AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors by frequency dependent capacitance and conductance analysis. Advances, 2014, 4: 037108
[4]
Wang A. Thermal, stress, and traps effects in AlGaN/GaNHEMTs. PhD Thesis, Polytechnic University of Madrid, 2014
[5]
Medjdoub F, Zegaoui M, Rolland N, et al. Demonstration of low leakage current and high polarization in ultrathin AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors grown on silicon substrate. Appl Phys Lett, 2011, 98: 223502 doi: 10.1063/1.3595943
[6]
Medjdoub F, Derluyn J, Cheng K, et al. Low on resistance high-breakdown normally off AlN/GaN/AlGaN DHFET on Si substrate. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2010, 31: 111 doi: 10.1109/LED.2009.2037719
[7]
Zimmermann T, Deen D, Cao Y, et al. AlN/GaN insulated-gate HEMTs with 2.3 A/mm output current and 480 mS/mm transconductance. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2008, 29, 661 doi: 10.1109/LED.2008.923318
[8]
Tang Y. et al, "Ultrahigh-speed GaN high-electron-mobility transistors with fT/fmax of 454/444 GHz. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2015, 36, 549 doi: 10.1109/LED.2015.2421311
[9]
Huque M, Eliza S, Rahman T, et al. Temperature dependent analytical model for current-voltage characteristics of AlGaN/GaN power HEMT. Solid-State Electron, 2009,. 53, 341 doi: 10.1016/j.sse.2009.01.004
[10]
Huq H, Islam S. AlGaN/GaN self-aligned MODFET with metal oxide gate for millimeter wave application. Microelectron J, 2006,. 37, 579 doi: 10.1016/j.mejo.2005.09.021
[11]
Chang Y, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, et al. A thermal model for static current characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors including self-heating effect. J Appl Phys, 2006.. 99, 044501 doi: 10.1063/1.2171776
[12]
Chang Y, Tong K, Surya C. Numerical simulation of current/voltage characteristics of AlGaN/GaNHEMTs at high temperatures. Semicond Sci Technol, 2005,. 20, 188 doi: 10.1088/0268-1242/20/2/016
[13]
Vitanov S, Palankovski V, Maroldt S, et al. High-temperature modeling of AlGaN/GaNHEMTs. Solid-State Electron, 2010,. 54, 1105 doi: 10.1016/j.sse.2010.05.026
[14]
Silvaco, Atlas user’s manual device simulation software, 2015
[15]
Fossum J G, Mertens R P, Lee D S, et al. Carrier recombination and lifetime in highly doped silicon. Solid-State Electron, 1983,. 26, 569. doi: 10.1016/0038-1101(83)90173-9
[16]
Ambacher O, Foutz B, Smart J, et al. Two-dimensional electron gases induced by spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization charges in N-and Ga-face AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. J Appl Phys, 1999,. 85, 3222 doi: 10.1063/1.369664
[17]
Rashmi, Abhinav K, Haldar S, et al. An accurate charge control model for spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization dependent two-dimensional electron gas sheet charge density of lattice-mismatched AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Solid-State Electron, 2002,. 46, 621 doi: 10.1016/S0038-1101(01)00332-X
[18]
Cho J, Li Z J, Bozorg-Grayeli E, et al. Thermal characterization of composite GaN substrates for HEMT applications. Government Microcircuit Appl & Critical Technol Conf (GomacTech), Las-Vegas, Nevada, 2012
[19]
Albrecht J D, Wang R P, Ruden P P, et al. Electron transport characteristics of GaN for high temperature device modeling. J Appl Phys, 1998,. 83, 4777 doi: 10.1063/1.367269
[20]
Kim H, Thompson R M, Tilak V, et al. Effects of SiN passivation and high-electric field on AlGaN/GaN HFET degradation. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2003,. 24, 421 doi: 10.1109/LED.2003.813375
[21]
Rudiger Q. Gallium nitride electronics. Springer Series in Materials Science, 2008
[22]
Ibbetson J P, Fini P T, Ness K D, et al. Polarisation effects, surface states, and the source of electrons in AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors. Appl Phys Lett, 2000,. 77, 250 doi: 10.1063/1.126940
[23]
He X G, Zhao D G, Jiang D S. Formation of two-dimensional electron gas at AlGaN/GaN heterostructure and the derivation of its sheet density expression. Chin Phys B, 2015,. 24, 067301 doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/24/6/067301
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    Received: 20 June 2018 Revised: 11 September 2018 Online: Accepted Manuscript: 05 November 2018Uncorrected proof: 06 November 2018Published: 01 February 2019

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      A. Hezabra, N. A. Abdeslam, N. Sengouga, M. C. E. Yagoub. 2D study of AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN HEMTs’ response to traps[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2019, 40(2): 022802. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/2/022802 A Hezabra, N A Abdeslam, N Sengouga, M C E Yagoub, 2D study of AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN HEMTs’ response to traps[J]. J. Semicond., 2019, 40(2): 022802. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/2/022802.Export: BibTex EndNote
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      A. Hezabra, N. A. Abdeslam, N. Sengouga, M. C. E. Yagoub. 2D study of AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN HEMTs’ response to traps[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2019, 40(2): 022802. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/2/022802

      A Hezabra, N A Abdeslam, N Sengouga, M C E Yagoub, 2D study of AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN HEMTs’ response to traps[J]. J. Semicond., 2019, 40(2): 022802. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/2/022802.
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      2D study of AlGaN/AlN/GaN/AlGaN HEMTs’ response to traps

      doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/40/2/022802
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