Correlation of interface states/border traps and threshold voltage shift on AlGaN/GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors

Journal Article · Mon Aug 31 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4930076· OSTI ID:22489212

Wu, Tian-Li; Groeseneken, Guido ^[1]; Marcon, Denis; De Jaeger, Brice; Lin, H. C.; Franco, Jacopo; Stoffels, Steve; Van Hove, Marleen; Decoutere, Stefaan ^[1]; Bakeroot, Benoit ^[1]; Roelofs, Robin ^[2]

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1. imec, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium)
2. ASM, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium)

In this paper, three electrical techniques (frequency dependent conductance analysis, AC transconductance (AC-g{sub m}), and positive gate bias stress) were used to evaluate three different gate dielectrics (Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition Si{sub 3}N{sub 4}, Rapid Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition Si{sub 3}N{sub 4}, and Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) for AlGaN/GaN Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor High-Electron-Mobility Transistors. From these measurements, the interface state density (D{sub it}), the amount of border traps, and the threshold voltage (V{sub TH}) shift during a positive gate bias stress can be obtained. The results show that the V{sub TH} shift during a positive gate bias stress is highly correlated to not only interface states but also border traps in the dielectric. A physical model is proposed describing that electrons can be trapped by both interface states and border traps. Therefore, in order to minimize the V{sub TH} shift during a positive gate bias stress, the gate dielectric needs to have a lower interface state density and less border traps. However, the results also show that the commonly used frequency dependent conductance analysis technique to extract D{sub it} needs to be cautiously used since the resulting value might be influenced by the border traps and, vice versa, i.e., the g{sub m} dispersion commonly attributed to border traps might be influenced by interface states.

• OSTI ID: 22489212
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 9; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
ELECTRON MOBILITY
FREQUENCY DEPENDENCE
GALLIUM NITRIDES
INTERFACES
METALS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SILICON NITRIDES
TRANSISTORS
TRAPPING
TRAPS