Abstract
Recently, AlN plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (ALD) passivation technique had been proposed and investigated for suppressing the dynamic on-resistance degradation behavior of high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs). In this paper, a novel gate dielectric and passivation technique for GaN-on-Si AlGaN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors (MISHEMTs) is presented. This technique features the AlN thin film grown by thermal ALD at 400°C without plasma enhancement. A 10.6-nm AlN thin film was grown upon the surface of the HEMT serving as the gate dielectric under the gate electrode and as the passivation layer in the access region at the same time. The MISHEMTs with thermal ALD AlN exhibit enhanced on/off ratio, reduced channel sheet resistance, reduction of gate leakage by three orders of magnitude at a bias of 4 V, reduced threshold voltage hysteresis of 60 mV, and suppressed current collapse degradation.
Highlights
AlGaN/GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) are capable of delivering excellent performance such as high electron mobility, high saturation current, low on-resistance, and large breakdown voltage, all of which make AlGaN/GaN HEMTs suitable for RF and power applications [1,2,3]
The potential of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is greatly limited for high-speed and high-power applications by the current collapse effect
We show the thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) AlN film serving as the gate dielectric and passivation technique without the assistance of plasma source
Summary
AlGaN/GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) are capable of delivering excellent performance such as high electron mobility, high saturation current, low on-resistance, and large breakdown voltage, all of which make AlGaN/GaN HEMTs suitable for RF and power applications [1,2,3]. The potential of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is greatly limited for high-speed and high-power applications by the current collapse effect. This effect is described as dynamic behavior degradation, gate lag, drain lag, etc., which is caused by the charge trapping effect on the AlGaN surface especially in the access region between gate and drain [4,5,6]. In order to solve these two issues, the deposition of oxide-based dielectric such as SiO2 [7], Al2O3 [8], LaLuO3 [9], and SrO2 [10,11] and dielectric stack such as SiN/Al2O3 [12] as gate dielectric layer and passivation layer in the access region simultaneously is widely adopted.
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