Enhancing the Performance of E-Mode AlGaN/GaN HEMTs With Recessed Gates Through Low-Damage Neutral Beam Etching and Post-Metallization Annealing

This study investigated the electrical properties of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with varied recess depths under the gate electrode. We demonstrated a recess depth of approximately 6 nm, which was achieved through neutral beam etching (NBE) technique with a low etch rate of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE open journal of nanotechnology Vol. 4; pp. 150 - 155
Main Authors Chen, Yi-Ho, Ohori, Daisuke, Aslam, Muhammad, Lee, Yao-Jen, Li, Yiming, Samukawa, Seiji
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York IEEE 2023
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects
AlGaN/GaN HEMTs
Aluminum gallium nitride
Aluminum gallium nitrides
Annealing
Control surfaces
Electrical properties
Etching
Gallium nitride
Gallium nitrides
HEMTs
High electron mobility transistors
Insulators
Leakage current
Metallizing
MIS (semiconductors)
neutral beam etching
Neutral beams
post-metallization annealing
recess gate
Semiconductor devices
Surface treatment
Threshold voltage
Transconductance
Transistors
Wide band gap semiconductors
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Summary:This study investigated the electrical properties of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with varied recess depths under the gate electrode. We demonstrated a recess depth of approximately 6 nm, which was achieved through neutral beam etching (NBE) technique with a low etch rate of 1.8 nm/min, resulting in device enhancement-mode (E-mode) behavior with threshold voltage (V th ) of 0.49 V. The effects of post-metallization annealing (PMA) on the device performance were also examined. The results revealed that PMA treatment improves the DC characteristics of the devices, including maximum drain current (I DMAX ), transconductance (g m ), subthreshold swing (SS), on-off ratio, and off-state leakage current, with maximum enhancement percentage of 18.3% for I DMAX , 3758% for on-off ratio, and 54.3% for SS. Moreover, this study compared the recess depths of metal-insulator-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors (MIS-HEMTs) with the SiN dielectric layer. The results showed that MIS-HEMTs exhibit more negative V th values, which can be attributed to the controlled surface states achieved through passivation.
ISSN:2644-1292
2644-1292
DOI:10.1109/OJNANO.2023.3306011