GaN–AlGaN heterostructure field-effect transistors over bulk GaN substrates

Abstract

We report on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures and heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) fabricated on high-pressure-grown bulk GaN substrates. The 2d electron gas channel exhibits excellent electronic properties with room-temperature electron Hall mobility as high as μ=1650 cm2/V s combined with a very large electron sheet density ns≈1.4×1013 cm−2. The HFET devices demonstrated better linearity of transconductance and low gate leakage, especially at elevated temperatures. We also present the comparative study of high-current AlGaN/GaN HFETs (nsμ>2×1016 V−1 s−1) grown on bulk GaN, sapphire, and SiC substrates under the same conditions. We demonstrate that in the high-power regime, the self-heating effects, and not a dislocation density, is the dominant factor determining the device behavior.