High-Temperature Performance of AlGaN/GaN Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Heterostructure Field-Effect-Transistors

Abstract

The characteristics of novel AlGaN/GaN Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Heterostructure Field Effect Transistors (MOSHFETs) were measured in the temperature range of 20–300 °C. At 300 °C the leakage current of MOSHFET remains four orders of magnitude lower than that of regular HFET. The saturation current and transconductance for both types of transistors follow the temperature dependence of electron velocity in the channel. The recovery of the current collapse at elevated temperatures compensates the effect of the decrease of the steady-state saturation current with temperature. As a consequence, the saturation microwave power remains fairly constant in the temperature range 20–200 °C, varying only by about 20% or so. These results show high potential of MOSHFETs for high-temperature microwave, digital and switching applications.