中国物理B ›› 2013, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (10): 107303-107303.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/22/10/107303

• CONDENSED MATTER: ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE, ELECTRICAL, MAGNETIC, AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES • 上一篇    下一篇

The degradation mechanism of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor under step-stress

陈伟伟a b, 马晓华a b, 侯斌a b, 祝杰杰a b, 张进成b, 郝跃b   

  1. a School of Technical Physics, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China;
    b Key Laboratory for Wide Band-Gap Semiconductor Materials and Devices, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China
  • 收稿日期:2013-03-12 修回日期:2013-04-04 出版日期:2013-08-30 发布日期:2013-08-30
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-12-0915).

The degradation mechanism of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor under step-stress

Chen Wei-Wei (陈伟伟)a b, Ma Xiao-Hua (马晓华)a b, Hou Bin (侯斌)a b, Zhu Jie-Jie (祝杰杰)a b, Zhang Jin-Cheng (张进成)b, Hao Yue (郝跃)b   

  1. a School of Technical Physics, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China;
    b Key Laboratory for Wide Band-Gap Semiconductor Materials and Devices, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China
  • Received:2013-03-12 Revised:2013-04-04 Online:2013-08-30 Published:2013-08-30
  • Contact: Ma Xiao-Hua E-mail:xhma@xidian.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-12-0915).

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摘要： Step-stress experiments are performed in this paper to investigate the degradation mechanism of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). It is found that the stress current shows a recoverable decrease during each voltage step and there is a critical voltage beyond which the stress current starts to increase sharply in our experiments. We postulate that defects may be randomly induced within the AlGaN barrier by the high electric field during each voltage step. But once the critical voltage is reached, the trap concentration will increase sharply due to the inverse piezoelectric effect. A leakage path may be introduced by excessive defect, and this may result in the permanent degradation of the AlGaN/GaN HEMT.

关键词: AlGaN/GaN HEMT, reliability, degradation mechanism, inverse piezoelectric effect

Abstract: Step-stress experiments are performed in this paper to investigate the degradation mechanism of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). It is found that the stress current shows a recoverable decrease during each voltage step and there is a critical voltage beyond which the stress current starts to increase sharply in our experiments. We postulate that defects may be randomly induced within the AlGaN barrier by the high electric field during each voltage step. But once the critical voltage is reached, the trap concentration will increase sharply due to the inverse piezoelectric effect. A leakage path may be introduced by excessive defect, and this may result in the permanent degradation of the AlGaN/GaN HEMT.

Key words: AlGaN/GaN HEMT, reliability, degradation mechanism, inverse piezoelectric effect

中图分类号:  (III-V semiconductors)

  • 73.61.Ey
85.30.Tv (Field effect devices) 78.30.Fs (III-V and II-VI semiconductors)