InAlGaN-based HEMT with very low Ohmic contact resistance regrown at 850 °C by MOVPE

Abstract

Regrown Ohmic contacts have been widely studied for high millimeter-wave applications. However, few were applied to InAl(Ga)N-based HEMT despite the lattice match benefits with GaN channel because of the poor thermal stability of the quaternary barrier. In this article, we use relatively low temperature (850 °C) MOVPE technique for the regrowth of heavily Si doped GaN (1 × 1020 cm−3) to avoid deterioration of the channel's electrical characteristics. Moreover, high selectivity of the regrowth is obtained, thanks to large opening ratio of the hard mask. The state-of-the-art total Ohmic contact resistance Rc = 0.06 Ω mm is reached with high homogeneity on a 4-in. wafer. This result reflects the combined contribution of the doped GaN interfaces with both the metal contact and the channel. 2 × 50 μm transistors featuring 100 nm gate length with regrown Ohmic contacts present remarkable improvements of DC and RF performances. At 40 GHz, the highest Power Added Efficiency (PAE) of 54% is attained at an output power of 3.8 W mm−1, while the maximum output power of 9.4 W mm−1 is achieved at a PAE of 48%, corresponding to bias voltages of 15 and 30 V, respectively.