Analysis of Trap and Recovery Characteristics Based on Low-Frequency Noise for E-Mode GaN HEMTs Under Electrostatic Discharge Stress

X B Xu,Z Y He,Y Q Chen,Z H Wu,B Li,Y Huang,S Z He,Y F En,L Liu

doi:10.1109/jeds.2020.3040445

Abstract

The ESD effects on the E-mode AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with p-GaN gate are investigated under repetitive TLP pulses. Firstly, the degradation and recovery of output, transfer characteristics, gate-leakage characteristics and low-frequency noises (LFN) are analyzed in detail before and after reverse electrostatic discharge (ESD) stress. The experimental results show that the electrical characteristics of the devices gradually degraded as the transmission line pulse (TLP) pules increased. Subsequently, the LFN measurements are performed over the frequency range of 1 Hz–10 KHz by increasing TLP pulses. Finally, the recovery tendency of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DC</i> (direct current) characteristics and trap density are studied and discussed after resting the device at room temperature for 1 to 3 months. These results physically confirm that the mechanism of the performance degradation and recovery of the devices could be attributed to the trapping and releasing processes of electrons in the p-GaN layer and AlGaN barrier layer of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs, which change the electric field distribution under the gate.

Highlights

During the past decade, Gallium nitride (GaN) has attracted great attention due to its impressive properties like wide bandgap (3.4 eV), high breakdown field (3.3 MV/cm) and low dielectric constant (9)
The aim of this paper is to investigate the degradation and recovery characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with p-GaN gate under reduced repetitive transmission line pulse (TLP) voltage of -80 V to intentionally slow down the device degradation, which means not cause permanent damage to the Devices Under Test (DUTs)
After resting the DUTs for 1 month at room temperature, the output characteristics of the devices shows an obvious trend of recovery

Summary

Introduction

Gallium nitride (GaN) has attracted great attention due to its impressive properties like wide bandgap (3.4 eV), high breakdown field (3.3 MV/cm) and low dielectric constant (9). The large two-dimensional (2-D) electron gas concentration confined by a larger conduction band discontinuity between GaN and AlGaN and the presence of polarization fields enhances the carrier mobility (1500-2000 cm-2/V) in AlGaN/GaN material system [1]. The high two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density (1013 cm-2), high electron peak velocity (3×107 cm/s) and high electron saturation velocity (1.5×107 cm/s) constitute important advantages of AlGaN/GaN hetero-junction with respect to their silicon (Si) and GaAs counterpart [2,3,4]. Huang are with the Science and Technology on Reliability Physics and Application of Electronic Component Laboratory, Guangzhou, 510610, China

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Results

Conclusion