Abstract
The failure behavior and the corresponding physical mechanism of the AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) under transmission line pulse (TLP) stress were investigated in this paper. The result shows that the output and transfer characteristics of the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs after 90 cycles begin to degrade by comparing with the fresh ones under 40 V TLP voltage, and the gate leakage current of the devices slightly increases. When the TLP voltage of 52 V was applied, a catastrophic failure occurs for the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Furthermore, the failure of the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs was located, and the micro-morphology of the abnormal spot was observed. The result shows that the gate metal was damaged due to the large TLP stress. The failure mechanism may be mainly attributed to the Joule heat that causes the high lattice temperature of 1160 K as well as the electric field, and it is higher than the melting point of Au (1064 K) in the gate metal (Au/Ti/Mo). The results may be useful in the design and application of electrostatic discharge (ESD) for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.
Highlights
AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) are promising devices for application in the high-temperature, high-frequency, and high-power fields
The output characteristics of the fresh AlGaN/GaN HEMTs shows no obvious variation from the device after transmission line pulse (TLP) stress of 40 V, and the number of TLP stress is ranging from 1 to 90 cycles with a step of 30 cycles
We have investigated the failure mode and its mechanism of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs under gate-to-source TLP stress
Summary
AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs) are promising devices for application in the high-temperature, high-frequency, and high-power fields. It is well-known that AlGaN/GaN HEMTs own wide bandgap, high breakdown electric field, and high two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) concentration. The effect of electrostatic discharge (ESD) on device stability and reliability is very important, especially the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs are applied to high power electronics [5]. Despite the importance of ESD reliability issues for GaN-based HEMT devices, there are a few results reported in the literature. J. Kuzmik et al [12, 13] had investigated the effect of drain-source current (IDS) on the ESD of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. When the IDS was low, the electrical characteristics of the devices would not change in the snapback work regime.
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