IEEE Electron Device Letters · 2012 · 189 citations · 13 references
EngineeringElectrical EngineeringMaterials ScienceElectronic MaterialsMicroelectronicsSemiconductor DevicesCarrier TransportDevice CharacterizationIii-v SemiconductorsSemiconductor PhysicsWide Band Gap SemiconductorsWide-bandgap SemiconductorsAvalanche BreakdownBreakdown MechanismsBreakdown VoltageHigh-electron-mobility TransistorsLeakage MechanismsSpace-charge-limited CurrentTrapsVertical Leakage
Vertical leakage/breakdown mechanisms in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors grown on low-resistivity p-type (111) Si substrate are studied by temperature-dependent current-voltage ( I-V) measurements. It is found that the top-to-substrate vertical breakdown voltage (BV) is dominated by the space-charge-limited current conduction involving both acceptor and donor traps in the GaN buffer/transition layer. From the temperature-dependent transient backgating measurements, the acceptor level at E <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">V</sub> + 543 meV and the donor level at E <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">C</sub> -616 meV were identified.
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