Measurement and gate-voltage dependence of channel and series resistances in lateral depletion-mode β-Ga2O3 MOSFETs

Abstract

Lateral depletion-mode, beta-phase gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) with source-drain spacings of 3 µm, 8 µm, and 13 µm are studied using a modified transfer length method (TLM) to obtain sheet resistances in the gated and ungated regions as well as to observe their gate electric field dependence. The modified TLM requires the contact resistance to be independent of the gate-source voltage, or changing current density. We verify this by performing measurements on conventional TLM structures in dark and UV conditions and observe a changing current density with constant contact resistance, enabling the development of the proposed method. The conventional and modified TLM give sheet resistances of 20.0 kΩ sq−1 ± 1.0 kΩ sq−1 and 27.5 kΩ sq−1 ± 0.8 kΩ sq−1, respectively. Using a traditional method for determining the channel resistance, the modified TLM improves the convergence of the channel resistances between the three devices, showing higher accuracy than the conventional TLM structures. Gate-source voltage dependence of the sheet resistances is seen in the ungated regions, leading to non-ideal behavior which cannot be observed using the traditional method and conventional TLM structures. These results and analysis methods are important in improving MOSFET parameter extraction and understanding the gate electric field effects on the channel and series resistances in β-Ga2O3 MOSFETs.