Increase of Breakdown Voltage on AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by Employing Proton Implantation

Abstract

The breakdown voltage of new AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) was increased considerably without sacrificing any other electrical characteristics by proton implantation. The breakdown voltage of proton-implanted AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with 150 KeV 1 times 1014 -cm-2 fluence after thermal annealing at 400 degC for 5 min under N2 ambient was 719 V, while that of conventional device was 416 V. The increase of the breakdown voltage is attributed to the expansion of the depletion region under the 2-D electron gas (2-DEG) channel. The depletion region expanded downward into the GaN buffer layer because implanted protons acted as positive ions and attracted electrons in the 2-DEG channel.