Extreme Temperature Modeling of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Abstract

The industry standard advanced SPICE model (ASM)-GaN compact model has been enhanced to model the GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) at extreme temperature conditions. In particular, the temperature dependence of the trapping behavior has been considered and a simplifying approximation in the temperature modeling of the saturation voltage in the ASM-GaN model has been relaxed. The enhanced model has been validated by comparing the simulation results of the model with the dc I-V measurement results of a GaN HEMT measured with chuck temperatures ranging from 22 • C to 500 • C. A detailed description of the modeling approach is presented. The new formulation of the ASM-GaN compact model can be used to simulate the circuits designed for extreme temperature environments. Index Terms-Compact models, gallium nitride, high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), high-temperature modeling, physics-based models, semiconductor device measurement, semiconductor device modeling. I. INTRODUCTION G aN-BASED HEMT devices have demonstrated outstanding performance across a wide range of RF and power applications during recent times. The literature [1]-[3] shows increasingly aggressive scaling of GaN devices, which has resulted in very promising high-speed devices with gate lengths as small as 20 nm and f T / f max exceeding 400 GHz [4]. Furthermore, the GaN power devices that can reliably operate with the drain-source voltage (V DS) values of 600-650 V are widely available where they set the current benchmark for commercial GaN power devices.

An Extended Temperature Model Based on the Trapping Effect for Drain‐Source Current in GaN HEMTs

“…This will help to maximize the utility of GaN HEMTs in high power and radio‐frequency circuits. [ 7–9 ]…”

L G 55 nm T‐gate InGaN / GaN channel based high electron mobility transistors for stable transconductance operation

“…High breakdown field (~5 MV/cm) due to large bandgap (3.4 eV), high electron mobility (~1500 cm 2 /V‐s) in the two‐dimensional electron gas (2DEG) are the advantages of GaN‐based HEMTs for high voltage and high‐frequency operation 1–3 . Several GaN‐HEMT small signal models are developed for power amplifier applications 4–6 …”

A reliable parameter extraction method for the augmented GaN high electron mobility transistor small‐signal model

“…Compared with other materials, GaN materials have the advantages of high electron mobility and breakdown electric field, and large forbidden band width, 2,3 which make GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) widely used 4–6 . Therefore, an accurate GaN HEMT small‐signal equivalent model with its parameter extraction is very important for the application and development of GaN HEMT devices 7–11 …”

“…[4][5][6] Therefore, an accurate GaN HEMT small-signal equivalent model with its parameter extraction is very important for the application and development of GaN HEMT devices. [7][8][9][10][11] Now, the 15-element GaN HEMT small-signal circuit model is commonly used. 12 However, the influences of the gate-drain resistance and the gate leakage current are not considered.…”