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

• Published in: Science China. Physics, mechanics & astronomy Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 40 - 43
• Main Authors: Bi, ZhiWei, Feng, Qian, Zhang, JinCheng, Lü, Ling, Mao, Wei, Gu, WenPing, Ma, XiaoHua, Hao, Yue
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg SP Science China Press 2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aluminum gallium nitrides; Astronomy; Classical and Continuum Physics; Density; Dielectrics; Electric potential; Electrical properties; Fluence; Gallium nitrides; High electron mobility transistors; Insulators; Irradiation; MIS (semiconductors); Observations and Techniques; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Proton damage; Proton irradiation; Radiation damage; Semiconductor devices; Voltage; proton irradiation; trap; MIS-HEMT; AlGaN/GaN
• ISSN: 1674-7348; 1869-1927
• DOI: 10.1007/s11433-011-4572-x

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.