Temperature dependent microwave performance of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors on high-resistivity silicon substrate

The influence of temperature (-50 °C to +200 °C) was studied on the DC and microwave characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) on high resistivity Si substrate for the first time. The AlGaN/GaN HEMTs exhibited a current-gain cut-off frequency (f T ) of 11.8 GHz and maximum frequency of oscillation (f max ) of 27.5 GHz. When compared to room temperature values, about 4% and 10% increase in f T and f max and 23% and 39.5% decrease in f T and f max were observed when measured at -50 °C and 200 °C, respectively. The improvement of I D , g m f T , and f max at -50 °C is due to the enhancement of 2DEG mobility and effective electron velocity. The anomalous drain current reduction in the I-V curves were observed at low voltage region at the temperature ≤ 10 °C but disappeared when the temperature reached ≥25 °C. A positive threshold voltage (V th ) shift was observed from - 50 °C to 200 °C. The positive shift of V th is due to the occurrence of trapping effects in the devices. The drain leakage current decreases with activation energies of 0.028 eV and 0.068 eV. This decrease of leakage current with the increase of temperature is due to the shallow acceptor initiated impact ionization.

[1]  Umesh K. Mishra,et al.  Very-high power density AlGaN/GaN HEMTs , 2001 .

[2]  Andrei Vescan,et al.  AlGaN/GaN HFETs fabricated on 100-mm GaN on silicon ( 1 1 1 ) substrates , 2002 .

[3]  Hiroyasu Ishikawa,et al.  Studies on the Influences of i-GaN, n-GaN, p-GaN and InGaN Cap Layers in AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors , 2005 .

[4]  G. Dambrine,et al.  High microwave and noise performance of 0.17-/spl mu/m AlGaN-GaN HEMTs on high-resistivity silicon substrates , 2004, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[5]  Takashi Jimbo,et al.  High-temperature effects of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors on sapphire and semi-insulating SiC substrates , 2002 .

[6]  Chien-Ping Lee,et al.  AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on Si substrate with 7 W/mm output power density at 10 GHz , 2004 .

[7]  A. Alam,et al.  AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on (111) silicon substrates , 2002, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[8]  T. Egawa,et al.  Electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on 4-in diameter sapphire substrate , 2003, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[9]  K. Doverspike,et al.  High-power microwave GaN/AlGaN HEMTs on semi-insulating silicon carbide substrates , 1999, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[10]  A. Vescan,et al.  12 W/mm AlGaN-GaN HFETs on silicon substrates , 2004, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[11]  J. A. del Alamo,et al.  An insulator-lined silicon substrate-via technology with high aspect ratio , 2001 .

[12]  Walter Kruppa,et al.  Trapping effects and microwave power performance in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs , 2001 .

[13]  Hiroyasu Ishikawa,et al.  Enhancement of breakdown voltage by AlN buffer layer thickness in AlGaN∕GaN high-electron-mobility transistors on 4in. diameter silicon , 2005 .

[14]  T. Mizutani,et al.  High-frequency measurements of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs at high temperatures , 2001, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[15]  M. Umeno,et al.  Effects of annealing on Ti, Pd, and Ni/n-Al/sub 0.11/Ga/sub 0.89/N Schottky diodes , 2001 .

[16]  Fabrice Semond,et al.  AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on Si(111) with 6.6 W/mm output power density , 2003 .

[17]  Umesh K. Mishra,et al.  Anomalous drain current-voltage characteristics in AlGaN/GaN MODFETs at low temperatures , 1999, Smart Materials, Nano-, and Micro- Smart Systems.

[18]  Takashi Jimbo,et al.  Temperature dependence of gate–leakage current in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors , 2003 .

[19]  C. S. Oh,et al.  Thermal distributions of surface states causing the current collapse in unpassivated AlGaN∕GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors , 2005 .

[20]  Michael S. Shur,et al.  TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF IMPACT IONIZATION IN ALGAN-GAN HETEROSTRUCTURE FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS , 1998 .

[21]  Y. Okamoto,et al.  High-power recessed-gate AlGaN-GaN HFET with a field-modulating plate , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.