No abstract

E-mode hybrid ferroelectric charge storage gate (FEG) GaN HEMTs have shown promising performances for future power GaN device applications. The FEG-HEMT demonstrates a combination of ferroelectric polarization and charge trapping process in the ferro-charge-storage gate stack, leading to a positive threshold voltage shift for E-mode operations. In this work, FEG-HEMTs with various Hf-based and Zr-based charge trapping layers are systematically studied. FEG-HEMT which employed nitrogen incorporated HfO2 (HfON) as the charge trapping layer shows an E-mode operation with the highest Vth (+2.3 V) after initialization. Moreover, the gate leakage of the HfON sample was further reduced due to the nitrogen incorporation, leading to a more complete charging process during initialization. The Vth instability is also addressed and investigated. The FEG-HEMT with HfON as the charge trapping layer showed a negligible Vth hysteresis (-43mV) and the highest Vth stability in both the PBTI (positive bias threshold voltage instability) and NBTI (negative bias threshold voltage instability) test measurements.

Aluminum gallium nitride/gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN) heterostructure devices have proven to be highly effective for high‐frequency power amplifiers and power switching applications with improved performance compared to those made with traditional silicon technology and other advanced semiconductor technologies. The development of enhancement‐mode (E‐mode) AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and metal–insulator–semiconductor HEMTs (MIS‐HEMTs) has been a focus in recent years due to their potential applications. Arising from the concept of a flash‐memory‐like hybrid ferroelectric charge storage structure, the high‐performance hybrid ferroelectric charge storage gate (FEG) GaN HEMT has gradually gained a great deal of attention due to the concept being a useful and versatile tool to realize E‐mode operations. This article attempts to review the latest progresses in this technology, including alternative improvements and device characteristics. Future challenges for the E‐mode FEG‐HEMT are also discussed.