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Title: Impact ionization in N-polar AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4892449· OSTI ID:22318025
; ; ;  [1]
  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Santa Barbara California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)

The existence of impact ionization as one of the open questions for GaN device reliability was studied in N-polar AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors. Electroluminescence (EL) imaging and spectroscopy from underneath the device gate contact revealed the presence of hot electrons in excess of the GaN bandgap energy even at moderate on-state bias conditions, enabling impact ionization with hole currents up to several hundreds of pA/mm. The detection of high energy luminescence from hot electrons demonstrates that EL analysis is a highly sensitive tool to study degradation mechanisms in GaN devices.

OSTI ID:
22318025
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English