Ionizing radiation defects and reliability of Gallium Nitride-based III-V semiconductor devices: A comprehensive review

Abstract

The remote sensing and satellite community working for space organizations have expressed interest in building advanced devices with potential choices for Gallium Nitride based transistors. Radar and satellite communication applications employ nitride High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) due to their high radiation-absorbing and temperature tolerant qualities. However, they also deteriorate simultaneously upon such radiations that cause a drastic fall in their lifetimes. This article carries out reliability studies of GaN-based III-V semiconductor devices, including HEMTs, Schottky and thin film diodes by reviewing the defects induced by radiation. A review of the various kinds of defects induced in these devices upon subject to several radiation beams like proton, neutron, gamma, alpha, and other sources has been discussed here. GaN, when subject to high energy ionizing radiation particles, produce point defects in the material that are more dominated by extended disordered regions. Trap states also occur as a part of radiation damage with forbidden gaps consisting of deep thermal ionization energies, which causes the device’s mobility and electrical conductivity to decrease drastically. A short description on how these defects can be mitigated to a certain extent has been given, eyeing towards more withstanding capabilities for these devices in radiation-hardened environments.