Dependence of Electrical Characteristics on Epitaxial Layer Structure of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs Fabricated on Freestanding GaN Substrates

Abstract

This article reports a systematic study on the effects of the epitaxial layer structure on the electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) fabricated on freestanding GaN substrates. First, GaN-on-GaN HEMTs were fabricated comprising channel and buffer layers unintentionally doped with Fe atoms those were diffused from the substrate. Their electrical characteristics were compared with GaN-on-SiC HEMTs. The tradeoff relation between maximum drain current and the breakdown characteristics was improved in GaN-on-GaN devices than in GaN-on-SiC devices. A small current collapse was observed in GaN-on-GaN devices despite a high Fe density in the channel. This suggested an influence of Fe diffusion on the frequency dispersion to be comparatively limited. Second, GaN-on-GaN HEMTs were fabricated using a thin undoped channel layer grown on Fe-doped GaN substrate directly or through an Fe diffusion stopper layer. Without the stopper layer, the buffer leakage was significantly increased by reducing the channel thickness, and a 100-nm-thick channel device showed nonpinch-off characteristics. On the other hand, samples with the stopper layer exhibited no buffer leakage and a complete pinchoff up to 200 V. In addition, a sample with an intentional C doping to the buffer layer showed a relatively large current collapse, suggesting a major contribution of C-doping to the frequency dispersion of GaN-on-GaN HEMTs.