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Title: Electron Transport Properties of Al x Ga 1 x N / Ga N Transistors Based on First-Principles Calculations and Boltzmann-Equation Monte Carlo Simulations

Abstract

High-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) based on AlxGa1–xN/GaN heterostructures have great potential for applications in power electronics and radio frequency applications. Operating under large bias and electric fields, hot electrons are present in the channel where they can activate preexisting benign defects that cause scattering or carrier trapping, resulting in device degradation, such as threshold-voltage shifts and transconductance degradation. We report a comprehensive investigation of the electron transport properties of wurtzite-phase GaN and AlN and of an Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN HEMT by solving the Boltzmann transport equation with a synchronous ensemble Monte Carlo technique and employing first-principles electronic properties, including the full energy bands, phonon dispersions, and electron-phonon scattering rates. We find that, for electron collisions with the highest-energy optical phonon mode, nonpolar scattering by optical phonons contributes comparable to polar scattering. Polar scattering with acoustic phonons, that is, piezoelectric scattering, is found to be as important as the polar scattering with optical phonons for low-energy electrons at room temperature. Here, we compare the calculated high-field transport characteristics of bulk GaN with previously reported results. We also calculate the nonpolar acoustic deformation potential, nonpolar optical deformation potential, and high-field transport characteristics of bulk AlN. We find that inclusion of piezoelectric scattering results in amore » low-field electron mobility of approximately 450cm2/(V s), which is very close to the experimental value. Simulation results are presented for an Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN HEMT, including electric field, average carrier kinetic energy, and drift velocity in the channel. Finally, we present the carrier energy distribution function in the conducting channel, which is key to accurately determine hot-carrier-caused device degradation and identify possible routes to an improved device design.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [3]
  1. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Boston Univ., MA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX (United States)
  3. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
  4. Boston Univ., MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1597930
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-09ER46554; W911NF-12-2-0023; EECS-1508898
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Applied
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 2331-7019
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Electrical properties; Electron-phonon coupling; First-principles calculations; Phonons; Piezoelectricity; Field-effect transistors; III-V semiconductors; Wurtzite

Citation Formats

Fang, Jingtian, Fischetti, Massimo V., Schrimpf, Ronald D., Reed, Robert A., Bellotti, Enrico, and Pantelides, Sokrates T. Electron Transport Properties of AlxGa1–xN/GaN Transistors Based on First-Principles Calculations and Boltzmann-Equation Monte Carlo Simulations. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.044045.
Fang, Jingtian, Fischetti, Massimo V., Schrimpf, Ronald D., Reed, Robert A., Bellotti, Enrico, & Pantelides, Sokrates T. Electron Transport Properties of AlxGa1–xN/GaN Transistors Based on First-Principles Calculations and Boltzmann-Equation Monte Carlo Simulations. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.044045
Fang, Jingtian, Fischetti, Massimo V., Schrimpf, Ronald D., Reed, Robert A., Bellotti, Enrico, and Pantelides, Sokrates T. 2019. "Electron Transport Properties of AlxGa1–xN/GaN Transistors Based on First-Principles Calculations and Boltzmann-Equation Monte Carlo Simulations". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.044045. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1597930.
@article{osti_1597930,
title = {Electron Transport Properties of AlxGa1–xN/GaN Transistors Based on First-Principles Calculations and Boltzmann-Equation Monte Carlo Simulations},
author = {Fang, Jingtian and Fischetti, Massimo V. and Schrimpf, Ronald D. and Reed, Robert A. and Bellotti, Enrico and Pantelides, Sokrates T.},
abstractNote = {High-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) based on AlxGa1–xN/GaN heterostructures have great potential for applications in power electronics and radio frequency applications. Operating under large bias and electric fields, hot electrons are present in the channel where they can activate preexisting benign defects that cause scattering or carrier trapping, resulting in device degradation, such as threshold-voltage shifts and transconductance degradation. We report a comprehensive investigation of the electron transport properties of wurtzite-phase GaN and AlN and of an Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN HEMT by solving the Boltzmann transport equation with a synchronous ensemble Monte Carlo technique and employing first-principles electronic properties, including the full energy bands, phonon dispersions, and electron-phonon scattering rates. We find that, for electron collisions with the highest-energy optical phonon mode, nonpolar scattering by optical phonons contributes comparable to polar scattering. Polar scattering with acoustic phonons, that is, piezoelectric scattering, is found to be as important as the polar scattering with optical phonons for low-energy electrons at room temperature. Here, we compare the calculated high-field transport characteristics of bulk GaN with previously reported results. We also calculate the nonpolar acoustic deformation potential, nonpolar optical deformation potential, and high-field transport characteristics of bulk AlN. We find that inclusion of piezoelectric scattering results in a low-field electron mobility of approximately 450cm2/(V s), which is very close to the experimental value. Simulation results are presented for an Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN HEMT, including electric field, average carrier kinetic energy, and drift velocity in the channel. Finally, we present the carrier energy distribution function in the conducting channel, which is key to accurately determine hot-carrier-caused device degradation and identify possible routes to an improved device design.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.044045},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1597930}, journal = {Physical Review Applied},
issn = {2331-7019},
number = 4,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Mon Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

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Cited by: 15 works
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