Effects of channel quantization and temperature on off-state and on-state breakdown in composite channel and conventional InP-based HEMTs

Meneghesso, Gaudenzio; Mion, A.; Neviani, A.; Matloubian, M.; Brown, J.J.; Hafizi, M.; Liu, Takyiu; Canali, C.; Pavesi, M.; Manfredi, M.; Zanoni, Enrico

doi:10.1109/iedm.1996.553118

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Furthermore, it is widely agreed that in the on-state, reverse gate current arises as a result of impact ionization [8], [18]. Combining these two observations creates a simple picture of the physics of which is consistent with the measurements above and with previous results (Fig.…”

Section: On-state Breakdown Physicssupporting

confidence: 80%

“…Great strides have been made in improving off-state breakdown in HEMT's through a variety of approaches, including the use of undoped or lightly-doped caps, high aluminum content insulators, composite channels, quantized channels, and novel gate recess schemes [5]- [8]. At the same time there has been significant work devoted to understanding the origins of [9]- [11], so that it is becoming feasible to engineer HEMT's with a given off-state breakdown voltage.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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On-state breakdown in power HEMTs: measurements and modeling

Somerville¹,

Blanchard²,

Duh³

et al.

International Electron Devices Meeting. IEDM Technical Digest

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Abstract-We have carried out a systematic study of onstate breakdown in a sample set of InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT's using a new gate current extraction technique in conjunction with sidegate and temperature-dependent measurements. We find that as the device is turned on, the breakdown voltage limiting mechanism changes from a TFE-dominated process to a multiplication-dominated process. This physical understanding allows the creation of a phenomenological physical model for breakdown which agrees well with all our experimental results, and explains the relationship between BVon and the sheet carrier concentration. Our results suggest that depending on device design, either on-state or off-state breakdown can limit maximum power.Index Terms-Breakdown, HEMT, impact ionization, MOD-FET.

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Section: On-state Breakdown Physicssupporting

confidence: 80%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On-state breakdown in power HEMTs: measurements and modeling

Somerville¹,

Blanchard²,

Duh³

et al.

International Electron Devices Meeting. IEDM Technical Digest

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“…For TLMs we have seen in 3.3.2 that this degradation mechanism starts at a higher critical voltage if the temperature is lowered to -65 'C. This is in agreement with impact-ionization playing a role as the impact-ionization rate is decreasing with decreasing temperature [29]. But hot electrons in this material system have a similar temperature dependence [36].…”

Section: Concentrationsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…The time evolution during degradation of a 12 gm wide TLM at -65 'C can be seen on This material system has a lower impact ionization rate at a lower temperature [29]. If the degradation rate correlates with the amount of impact-ionization, it was to be expected that the device would only start degrading at a higher voltage.…”

Section: Influence Of Temperature On Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrical degradation of InAlAs/InGaAs metamorphic high-electron mobility transistors

Mertens

Alamo²

International Electron Devices Meeting. Technical Digest (Cat. No.01CH37224)

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InAlAs/InGaAs metamorphic High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMT) hold promise for power-millimeter wave applications. A major reliability concern in some of these devices is the degradation of the drain resistance that is observed when the device is electrically stressed for a long time at bias conditions necessary for power applications. The goal of this thesis was to find the physical origin of this reliability problem and to suggest solutions to it. State-of-the-art InAlAs/InGaAs metamorphic HEMTs, provided by our sponsor, Hewlett Packard, were stressed under different bias schemes. It was found that most figures of merit associated with the drain-side of the device degrade under severe bias stress. In particular, the drain resistance, RD, has been found to increase significantly. In order to understand the physical origin of this degradation, we have studied the degradation of simpler Transmission Line Model (TLM) structures. We have found that in TLMs and HEMTs there appear to be two different degradation modes, both associated with hot electrons. In the first degradation mechanisms, we postulate that hot electrons are trapped by defects at the interface between the GaAs etch-stopper and the AlInAs Schottky barrier layer, depleting the carrier concentration in the channel underneath. In the second mechanism hot electrons degrade the InGaAs ohmic contacts. No degradation mechanism associated with the metamorphic nature of the structure has been identified. AcknowledgementsI would like to thank Prof. Jesus del Alamo for giving me the chance to work on this interesting project. He has guided me through this research with a huge amount of patience, ideas and red ink, teaching me a methodology in research and reporting. He always tried to make time available for me, even if he was extremely busy. I would like to thank him for offering me the opportunity to be a teaching assistant for his very interesting class and for giving me a place at MIT from the time I arrived. This research has been funded by Hewlett-Packard. I would like to thank Don D'Avanzo for starting this project, appropriating the funding and giving me the opportunity to work as a SEED student in Santa Rosa. Larry Studebaker, thanks for the invaluable help and the samples during the year and the supervision this Summer. I am very happy that I have found such a great co-advisor. I had a great time in Santa Rosa and I learned a lot there, also thanks to Dan Scherrer, Fred Sughiwo and Bob Yeats. HP Labs also helped me a lot through this thesis. Hans Rohdin, thank you for answering so many questions, reading this thesis on time and sending me the samples that helped pull things together. Thanks to Arlene Wakita and Nick Moll for making these devices available to me.Roxann Blanchard, thanks for all the discussions we held and the questions you answered, even when you were busy with your own thesis. You have proven to be an infinite well of knowledge and I can only hope I have been able to soak up enough of it to continue this research.Tassan...

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“…In most material systems, one can easily determine breakdown mechanism through temperature dependent measurements. Unfortunately, determination of breakdown mechanism in InAlAs/InGaAs devices is substantially more challenging, because of the anomalous positive temperature dependence of II in InGaAs [5]. This temperature dependence implies that the breakdown voltage drops with increasing temperature regardless of whether the dominant physical mechanism is electron emission from the gate or II within the channel.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining dominant breakdown mechanisms in InP HEMTs

Somerville

Putnam²,

Alamo³

2001

IEEE Electron Device Lett.

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Abstract-We present a new technique for determining the dominant breakdown mechanism in InAlAs/InGaAs high-electron mobility transistors. By exploiting both the temperature dependence and the bias dependence of different physical mechanisms, we are able to discriminate impact ionization gate current from tunneling and thermionic field emission gate current in these devices. Our results suggest that doping level of the supply layers plays a key role in determining the relative importance of these two effects.

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Effects of channel quantization and temperature on off-state and on-state breakdown in composite channel and conventional InP-based HEMTs

Cited by 24 publications

References 9 publications

On-state breakdown in power HEMTs: measurements and modeling

On-state breakdown in power HEMTs: measurements and modeling

Electrical degradation of InAlAs/InGaAs metamorphic high-electron mobility transistors

Determining dominant breakdown mechanisms in InP HEMTs

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