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New AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) that their barrier layers under the gate are divided into two regions horizontally are presented in this work. Upper region is Si 3 N 4 (SI-HEMT) or un-doped AlGaN (UN-HEMT) and lower region is AlGaN with heavier doping compared to barrier layer. Upper region in SI-HEMT and UN-HEMT reduces peak electric field in the channel and then improves breakdown voltage considerably. Lower region increases electron density in the two dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) and enhances drain current significantly. For instance, saturated drain current in SI-HEMT is about 100% larger than that in the conventional one. Moreover, the maximum breakdown voltage in the proposed structures is 65 V. This value is about 30% larger than that in the conventional transistor (50 V). Also, suggested structure reduces short channel effect such as DIBL. The maximum g m is obtained in UN-HEMT and conventional devices. Proposed structures improve breakdown voltage and saturated drain current and then enhance maximum output power density. Maximum output power density in the new structures is about 150% higher than that in the conventional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) based on AlGaN/GaN epitaxial heterostructures are a promising element base for the fabrication of high voltage electronic devices of the next generation. This is caused by both the high mobility of charge carriers in the transistor channel and the high electric strength of the material, which makes it possible to attain high breakdown voltages. For use in high-power switches, normally off-mode GaN transistors operating under enhancement conditions are required. To fabricate normally off GaN transistors, one most frequently uses a subgate region based on magnesium-doped p-GaN. However, optimization of the p-GaN epitaxial-layer thickness and the doping level makes it possible to attain a threshold voltage of GaN transistors close to V = +2 V. In this study, it is shown that the use of low temperature treatment in an atomic hydrogen flow for the p-GaN-based subgate region before the deposition of gate-metallization layers makes it possible to increase the transistor threshold voltage to V = +3.5 V. The effects under observation can be caused by the formation of a dipole layer on the p-GaN surface induced by the effect of atomic hydrogen. The heat treatment of hydrogen-treated GaN transistors in a nitrogen environment at a temperature of T = 250°C for 12 h reveals no degradation of the transistor's electrical parameters, which can be caused by the formation of a thermally stable dipole layer at the metal/ p-GaN interface as a result of hydrogenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-resistance buffer layer is critical for GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) to suppress the drain leakage current and pre-mature device breakdown. A typical method to obtain the HR buffer layers is the acceptor impurity doping that is able to provide holes to compensate the background electrons in the buffer layers. However, the intentional doped acceptor impurities such as Mg, Fe and C will result in current collapse in GaN-based HEMTs. To address this issue, in this work, we employed a polarization doping method of holes by Al-composition grading instead of the acceptor impurity doping. The sheet resistance of the GaN-based buffer layer significantly increased due to the holes generated by the polarization field. (a) Structures of the three samples; (b) Schematic illustration of polarization-induced 3DHG in (0001)-oriented graded AlGaN layer; (c) The square resistance of the three samples calculated by using CTLM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent experiments show that GaN/AlGaN high-electron-mobility transistors suffer from significant current collapse, which is caused by an increase in the concentration of traps with energy levels 0.5-0.6 eV below the conduction-band edge. This increase in trap concentration is consistent with thermally activated defect diffusion, but the responsible defect complexes have not been identified. It has been suggested that the defect complex may contain iron because of the proximity of the Fedoped GaN substrate. Here, we report first-principles density-functional calculations of substitutional iron complexes, investigate their properties, and show that the FeGa-VN complex has properties that account for the observed degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A GaN MIS-HEMT with nitrogen (N)-passivation for power device applications is demonstrated. In this letter, nitrogen radicals were adopted to recover nitrogen-vacancy-related defects which were formed due to the thermal decomposition and evaporation of nitrogen atoms from GaN surface during high-temperature process. Besides, nitrogen radicals can also remove impurities and reduce surface dangling bonds by forming Ga-N bonds on the SiN/GaN interface. With N-passivation, the device shows high ON/OFF current ratio, steep subthreshold slope, low OFF-state leakage current, high breakdown voltage, and improved dynamic ON-resistance. The device reliability under high-electric field stress was also improved as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]