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Title: Impact of residual carbon impurities and gallium vacancies on trapping effects in AlGaN/GaN metal insulator semiconductor high electron mobility transistors

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4927405· OSTI ID:22486340
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  1. Infineon Technologies Austria AG, Siemensstrasse 2, A-9500 Villach (Austria)
  2. IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)
  3. Institute of Semiconductor and Solid State Physics, Johannes Kepler University, Altenbergerstrasse 69, A-4040 Linz (Austria)

Effects of residual C impurities and Ga vacancies on the dynamic instabilities of AlN/AlGaN/GaN metal insulator semiconductor high electron mobility transistors are investigated. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy, positron annihilation spectroscopy, and steady state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements have been performed in conjunction with electrical characterization and current transient analyses. The correlation between yellow luminescence (YL), C- and Ga vacancy concentrations is investigated. Time-resolved PL indicating the C{sub N} O{sub N} complex as the main source of the YL, while Ga vacancies or related complexes with C seem not to play a major role. The device dynamic performance is found to be significantly dependent on the C concentration close to the channel of the transistor. Additionally, the magnitude of the YL is found to be in agreement with the threshold voltage shift and with the on-resistance degradation. Trap analysis of the GaN buffer shows an apparent activation energy of ∼0.8 eV for all samples, pointing to a common dominating trapping process and that the growth parameters affect solely the density of trap centres. It is inferred that the trapping process is likely to be directly related to C based defects.

OSTI ID:
22486340
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English