Dependence on proton energy of degradation of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

Lu Liu, Chien Fong Lo, Yuyin Xi, Yuxi Wang, Fan Ren, Stephen J. Pearton, Hong Yeol Kim, Jihyun Kim, Robert C. Fitch, Dennis E. Walker, Kelson D. Chabak, James K. Gillespie, Stephen E. Tetlak, Glen D. Via, Antonio Crespo, Ivan I. Kravchenko

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41 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of proton irradiation energy on dc, small signal, and large signal rf characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were investigated. AlGaN/GaN HEMTs were irradiated with protons at fixed fluence of 5 × 1015/cm2 and energies of 5, 10, and 15 MeV. Both dc and rf characteristics revealed more degradation at lower irradiation energy, with reductions of maximum transconductance of 11, 22, and 38, and decreases in drain saturation current of 10, 24, and 46 for HEMTs exposed to 15, 10, and 5 MeV protons, respectively. The increase in device degradation with decreasing proton energy is due to the increase in linear energy transfer and corresponding increase in nonionizing energy loss with decreasing proton energy in the active region of the HEMTs. After irradiation, both subthreshold drain leakage current and reverse gate current decreased more than 1 order of magnitude for all samples. The carrier removal rate was in the range 121-336 cm-1 over the range of proton energies employed in this study.

Original languageEnglish
Article number022201
JournalJournal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Nanotechnology and Microelectronics
Volume31
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2013

Funding

The work performed at UF was supported by an U.S. DOD HDTRA Grant No. 1-11-1-0020, monitored by James Reed and an AFOSR MURI monitored by James Huang. A portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is sponsored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy.

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