with InGaN back-barrier

Electroluminescence (EL) spectroscopy in combination with drift-diffusion simulations was used to prove the presence of impact ionization in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs illustrated on InGaN back-barrier devices. Regardless of the level of gate leakage current, which is dominated by contributions such as surface leakage current and others, EL enabled to reveal hole generation due to impact ionization. Hole currents as low as 10pA were detectable by the optical technique used.