Density-dependent electron transport and precise modeling of GaN high electron mobility transistors

Abstract

We report on the direct measurement of two-dimensional sheet charge density dependence of electron transport in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). Pulsed IV measurements established increasing electron velocities with decreasing sheet charge densities, resulting in saturation velocity of 1.9 × 107 cm/s at a low sheet charge density of 7.8 × 1011 cm−2. An optical phonon emission-based electron velocity model for GaN is also presented. It accommodates stimulated longitudinal optical (LO) phonon emission which clamps the electron velocity with strong electron-phonon interaction and long LO phonon lifetime in GaN. A comparison with the measured density-dependent saturation velocity shows that it captures the dependence rather well. Finally, the experimental result is applied in TCAD-based device simulator to predict DC and small signal characteristics of a reported GaN HEMT. Good agreement between the simulated and reported experimental results validated the measurement presented in this report and established accurate modeling of GaN HEMTs.