dc and rf performance of proton-irradiated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

Luo, B.; Johnson, J. W.; Ren, F.; Allums, K. K.; Abernathy, C. R.; Pearton, S. J.; Dwivedi, R.; Fogarty, T. N.; Wilkins, R.; Dabiran, A. M.; Wowchack, A. M.; Polley, C.J; Chow, P. P.; Baca, Albert G.

doi:10.1063/1.1408606

Cited by 111 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…32,131 • C in forming gas recovered most of the original characteristics but did increase the oxide/GaN interfacial roughness. 32,131,156 These results were not dependent on the proton energy, but the radiation did enhance roughening of the interface compared to unirradiated diodes annealed in the same fashion, where no significant change in interface roughness was observed until annealing at 800…”

Section: 57mentioning

confidence: 84%

Review—Ionizing Radiation Damage Effects on GaN Devices

Pearton

Ren

Patrick

et al. 2015

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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Gallium Nitride based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are attractive for use in high power and high frequency applications, with higher breakdown voltages and two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density compared to their GaAs counterparts. Specific applications for nitride HEMTs include air, land and satellite based communications and phased array radar. Highly efficient GaNbased blue light emitting diodes (LEDs) employ AlGaN and InGaN alloys with different compositions integrated into heterojunctions and quantum wells. The realization of these blue LEDs has led to white light sources, in which a blue LED is used to excite a phosphor material; light is then emitted in the yellow spectral range, which, combined with the blue light, appears as white. Alternatively, multiple LEDs of red, green and blue can be used together. Both of these technologies are used in high-efficiency white electroluminescent light sources. These light sources are efficient and long-lived and are therefore replacing incandescent and fluorescent lamps for general lighting purposes. Since lighting represents 20-30% of electrical energy consumption, and because GaN white light LEDs require ten times less energy than ordinary light bulbs, the use of efficient blue LEDs leads to significant energy savings. GaN-based devices are more radiation hard than their Si and GaAs counterparts due to the high bond strength in III-nitride materials. The response of GaN to radiation damage is a function of radiation type, dose and energy, as well as the carrier density, impurity content and dislocation density in the GaN. The latter can act as sinks for created defects and parameters such as the carrier removal rate due to trapping of carriers into radiation-induced defects depends on the crystal growth method used to grow the GaN layers. The growth method has a clear effect on radiation response beyond the carrier type and radiation source. We review data on the radiation resistance of AlGaN/GaN and InAlN/GaN HEMTs and GaN-based LEDs to different types of ionizing radiation, and discuss ion stopping mechanisms. The primary energy levels introduced by different forms of radiation, carrier removal rates and role of existing defects in GaN are discussed. The carrier removal rates are a function of initial carrier concentration and dose but not of dose rate or hydrogen concentration in the nitride material grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition. Proton and electron irradiation damage in HEMTs creates positive threshold voltage shifts due to a decrease in the two dimensional electron gas concentration resulting from electron trapping at defect sites, as well as a decrease in carrier mobility and degradation of drain current and transconductance. State-of-art simulators now provide accurate predictions for the observed changes in radiation-damaged HEMT performance. Neutron irradiation creates more extended damage regions and at high doses leads to Fermi level pinning while 60 Co γ-ray irradiation leads to much smaller changes in HEMT drain ...

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Section: 57mentioning

confidence: 84%

Review—Ionizing Radiation Damage Effects on GaN Devices

Pearton

Ren

Patrick

et al. 2015

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

Self Cite

282

130

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“…The degradation is identified by a decrease in the maximum transconductance, an increase in the threshold voltage, and a decrease in the drain saturation current. The degradation mechanism was pointed out by Luo et al [9] that the creation of deep trap states in the band gap would remove the electrons from the channel. However, there is no report about the proton irradiation induced effects in AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMTs, which is very important for the application of MIS-HEMTs in unique fields.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of proton irradiation on the electrical properties of NbAlO/AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMT

Feng

Zhang

et al. 2011

Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron.

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AlGaN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor high electron-mobility transistors (MIS-HEMTs) with atomic layer deposited (ALD) NbAlO gate dielectric were investigated using 3 MeV proton irradiation at a fluence of 10 15 p/cm 2 . It was found that the proton irradiation damage caused degradation in DC performance and a flatband voltage shift in the capacitance-voltage curve. Gate-drain conductance measurements indicated that new traps were introduced in GaN from the irradiation, and the trap densities increased from 1.18×10 12 cm 2 eV 1 to 1.82×10 12 cm 2 eV 1 in MIS-HEMTs after irradiation. However, these increases in trap densities caused by irradiation in MIS-HEMT are less than those in HEMT, which can be attributed to the protection of the AlGaN surface by the NbAlO dielectric layer. AlGaN/GaN, MIS-HEMT, proton irradiation, trap PACS number(s): 85.30.Tv, 73.40.Qv, 77.55.+f, 61.82.Fk Citation:AlGaN/GaN high electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) have recently emerged as attractive transistors suitable for high-power and high-frequency applications [1]. However, larger gate leakage currents in HEMTs due to surface defects and the finite barrier height of AlGaN limit the performance and reliability of devices, especially the breakdown voltage and power handling capabilities [2]. Previously, several groups have attempted to solve this problem by applying the metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure. For example, S i O 2 [3], Al 2 O 3 [4], and HfO 2 [5] have all been widely used for gate dielectric layers. The high-k dielectric layer can be thickened without reducing the transconductance of HEMTs. In this paper, we choose atomic layer deposition (ALD) Nb0.1Al0.9O as the gate insulator layer, because it has a larger bandgap (6.7) than HfO 2 and a higher dielectric constant (15) than Al 2 O 3 . The NbAlO MISHEMTs have been fabricated successfully and the gate leakage current decreased about three orders of magnitude less than HEMT [6]. In addition, GaN-based devices are radiation harder than GaAs devices, and hence are known for several unique applications, such as satellite-based communication systems and nuclear industry applications [7], in which devices would be set in place where they are exposed to a great deal of particle radiation. Therefore, GaN-based devices are expected to have higher resistance against radiation than conventional devices. Previous studies observed significant degradation in the performances of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs after a fluence of 10 14 10 15 p/cm 2 1.8 MeV protons [8]. The degradation is identified by a decrease in the maximum transconductance, an increase in the threshold voltage, and a decrease in the drain saturation

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“…Annealing at 800 o C was shown to be effi cient in partially restoring the electrical characteristics [80]. For higher proton energies of 40 MeV both DC characteristics (transconductance, threshold voltage, drain saturation current) and AC characteristics were little affected by proton fl uences of up to 5×10 10 cm -2 [83][84][85]. Proton irradiation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with energies 1.8 MeV, 15 MeV, 40 MeV, 105 MeV and proton fl uences up to 10 13 cm -2 showed the strongest changes for the lowest proton energy, and the effect was explained by the decrease of the energy transferred to Al, Ga and N atoms in elastic collisions occurring within the active region of devices as the range of protons increased with increasing energy.…”

Section: Radiation Effects In Gan-based Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiation Damage in GaN‐Based Materials and Devices

Patrick

Law

Pearton

et al. 2014

Advanced Energy Materials

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A review of electron, proton and neutron damage in GaN and AlGaN materials and devices such as high electron mobility transistors and lightemitting diodes is presented. A comparison of theoretical and experimental threshold displacement energies is given, along with a summary of energy levels introduced by different forms of radiation, carrier removal rates and role of existing defects. Many studies have shown that GaN is several orders of magnitude more resistant to radiation damage than GaAs, i.e., it can withstand radiation doses at least two orders of magnitude higher than those degrading GaAs of similar doping level. In terms of heterostructures, the initial data suggests that the radiation hardness decreases in the order AlN/GaN >AlGaN/GaN > InAlN/GaN, consistent with the average bond strengths in the Al-based materials. Many issues still have to be addressed. Among them are the strong asymmetry in carrier removal rates in n-and p-type GaN and interaction of radiation defects with Mg acceptors, and the poor understanding of the interaction of radiation defects in doped nitrides with the dislocations always present.

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dc and rf performance of proton-irradiated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

Abstract: Articles you may be interested inEffect of proton irradiation on thermal resistance and breakdown voltage of InAlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors J.

Cited by 111 publications

References 19 publications

Review—Ionizing Radiation Damage Effects on GaN Devices

Review—Ionizing Radiation Damage Effects on GaN Devices

The effects of proton irradiation on the electrical properties of NbAlO/AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMT

Radiation Damage in GaN‐Based Materials and Devices

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