Structure and electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN MISHFET with Al2O3 thin film as both surface passivation and gate dielectric

Abstract

An AlGaN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistor (MISHFET) with about 40 nm Al2O3 for both surface passivation and gate dielectric has been investigated and compared with the regular metal-semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistor (MESHFET). The output characteristic measurements have shown that the MISHFET yielded 34% increase of the saturation drain current compared to the MESHFET. The Hall effect measurements of AlGaN/GaN two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) coated with Al2O3 thin films indicated an increase of mobility and density of 2DEG, and thus a decrease of the parasitic series resistance. The XRD analysis of the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure showed that strain was introduced into the AlGaN barrier layer with Al2O3 coating. The energy band calculations showed that the biaxial tensile stress should possibly be the main mechanism for the performance improvement of the MISHFET.