AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN Double Heterostructure for High-Power III-N Field-Effect Transistors

Author(s)

C. Q. ChenFollow
J. P. Zhang
V. AdivarahanFollow
A. Koudymov
H. Fatima
Grigory Simin, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
J. Yang
M. Asif Khan

Document Type

Article

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate an AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double heterostructure (DH) with significantly improved two-dimensional (2D) confinement for high-power III-N heterostructurefield-effect transistors(HFETs). The DH was grown directly on an AlN buffer over i-SiC substrate. It enables an excellent confinement of the 2D gas and also does not suffer from the parasitic channel formation as experienced in past designs grown over GaN buffer layers. Elimination of the GaN buffer modifies the strain distribution in the DH, enabling Al contents in the barrier region well over 30%. For the AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN DH design, the 2D electron gasmobility achieved was 1150 cm²/V s at room temperature and 3400 cm²/V s at 77 K, whereas the temperature independent sheet carrier density was NS≈1.1×10¹³ cm⁻². Compared to a regular AlGaN/GaN structure, the channel mobility-concentration profiling shows significant improvement in the carrier confinement. Sample DHFETs with 1-μm long gates demonstrate the threshold voltage of 3.5 V, with a peak saturation current of 0.6–0.8 A/mm.

Publication Info

Published in Applied Physics Letters, Volume 82, Issue 25, 2006, pages 4593-4595.

Rights

©Applied Physics Letters 2003, American Institute of Physics (AIP).

Chen, C. Q., Zhang, J. P., Adivarahan, V., Koudymov, A., Fatima, H., Simin, G., Yang, J., & Khan, M. A. (16 June 2003). AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN Double Heterostructure for High-Power III-N Field-Effect Transistors. Applied Physics Letters, 82 (25), 4593-4595. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1587274