Investigations on Wide-Gap Al0.21Ga0.79N Channel MOS-HFETs With In0.12Al0.76Ga0.12N Barrier/Buffer and Drain Field-Plate

Abstract

This work investigates, for the first time, wide-gap Al0.21Ga0.79N channel metal-oxide-semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistors (MOS-HFETs) with In0.12Al0.76Ga0.12N barrier/buffer and drain field-plate (DFP) designs. High-k and wide-gap Al2O3 was grown as the gate oxide and surface passivation by using non-vacuum ultrasonic spray pyrolysis deposition (USPD) technique. A control device having the same epitaxial layers, except with In0.12Al0.88N barrier/buffer was studied in comparison. Enhanced spontaneous polarization effect, improved interfacial quality, and enhanced carrier confinement have been achieved by using the In0.12Al0.76Ga0.12N barrier/buffer design, which has successfully resulted in improved carrier transport, increased electron concentration, and high current densities. The present In0.12Al0.76Ga0.12N/AlN/Al0.21Ga0.79N MOS-HFET design with (without) DFP design has demonstrated superior maximum drain-source current density (IDS, max) of >1 (>1) A/mm at VDS = 20 V, high saturated drain-source current density at VGS = 0 V (IDSS0) of 791.1 (755) mA/mm, and low specific on-resistance (Ron, sp) of 2.83 (2.81) mΩ/cm2. High device figure-of-merit (FOM) on BVDS2/Ron, sp of 93.7 (75.4) MW/cm2 was also obtained with the three-terminal on-state drain-source breakdown voltage (BVDS) of 515 (460) V. The present design is promisingly advantageous to high-current and high-voltage power-switching circuit applications.