Analysis of the decrease of two-dimensional electron gas concentration in GaN-based HEMT caused by proton irradiation

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/abbbf7

Abstract Gallium nitride (GaN)-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) that work in aerospace are exposed to particles radiation, which can cause the degradation in electrical performance. We investigate the effect of proton irradiation on the concentration of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in GaN-based HEMTs. Coupled Schrödinger's and Poisson's equations are solved to calculate the band structure and the concentration of 2DEG by the self-consistency method, in which the vacancies caused by proton irradiation are taken into account. Proton irradiation simulation for GaN-based HEMT is carried out using the stopping and range of ions in matter (SRIM) simulation software, after which a theoretical model is established to analyze how proton irradiation affects the concentration of 2DEG. Irradiated by protons with high fluence and low energy, a large number of Ga vacancies appear inside the device. The results indicate that the ionized Ga vacancies in the GaN cap layer and the AlGaN layer will affect the Fermi level, while the Ga vacancies in the GaN layer will trap the two-dimensional electrons in the potential well. Proton irradiation significantly reduced the concentration of 2DEG by the combined effect of these two mechanisms.

Keywords: proton irradiation GaN-based HEMT two-dimensional electron concentration

Received: 04 August 2020
Revised: 17 September 2020
Accepted manuscript online: 28 September 2020

PACS:	73.61.Ey	(III-V semiconductors)
	85.30.De	(Semiconductor-device characterization, design, and modeling)
	14.20.Dh	(Protons and neutrons)

Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61874108), the Gansu Province Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant Nos. 18JR3RA285 and 20JR5RA287), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant Nos. lzujbky-2020-kb06 and lzujbky-2020-cd02).

Corresponding Authors: ^†Corresponding author. E-mail: liugp@lzu.edu.cn

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Jin-Jin Tang(汤金金), Gui-Peng Liu(刘贵鹏), Jia-Yu Song(宋家毓), Gui-Juan Zhao(赵桂娟), and Jian-Hong Yang(杨建红) Analysis of the decrease of two-dimensional electron gas concentration in GaN-based HEMT caused by proton irradiation 2021 Chin. Phys. B 30 027303

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Analysis of the decrease of two-dimensional electron gas concentration in GaN-based HEMT caused by proton irradiation

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