Abstract
Gate length dependent (80 nm–5000 mm) radio frequency measurements to extract saturation velocity are reported for Al0.85Ga0.15N/Al0.7Ga0.3N high electron mobility transistors fabricated into radio frequency devices using electron beam lithography. Direct current characterization revealed the threshold voltage shifting positively with increasing gate length, with devices changing from depletion mode to enhancement mode when the gate length was greater than or equal to 450 nm. Transconductance varied from 10 mS/mm to 25 mS/mm, with the 450 nm device having the highest values. Maximum drain current density was 268 mA/mm at 10 V gate bias. Scattering-parameter characterization revealed a maximum unity gain bandwidth (fT) of 28 GHz, achieved by the 80 nm gate length device. A saturation velocity value of 3.8 × 106 cm/s, or 35% of the maximum saturation velocity reported for GaN, was extracted from the fT measurements.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
T. Nanjo, M. Takeuchi, M. Suita, T. Oishi, Y. Abe, Y. Tokuda, and Y. Aoyagi, Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 263502 (2008).
H. Tokuda, M. Hatano, N. Yafune, S. Hashimoto, K. Akita, Y. Yamamoto, and M. Kuzuhara, Appl. Phys. Express 3, 121003 (2010).
A.G. Baca, A.M. Armstrong, A.A. Allerman, E.A. Douglas, C.A. Sanchez, M.P. King, M.E. Coltrin, T.R. Fortune, and R.J. Kaplar, Appl. Phys. Lett. 109, 033509 (2016).
S. Muhtadi, S.M. Hwang, A. Coleman, F. Asif, G. Simin, M. Chandrashekhar, and A. Khan, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 38, 7 (2017).
H. Okumura, S. Suihkonen, J. Lemettinen, A. Uedono, Y. Zhang, D. Piedra, and T. Palacios, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 57, 04FR11 (2018).
S. Bajaj, A. Allerman, A. Armstrong, T. Razzak, V. Talesara, W. Sun, S.H. Sohel, Y. Zhang, W. Lu, A.R. Arehart, F. Akyol, and S. Rajan, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 39, 2 (2018).
S. Bajaj, T.-H. Hung, F. Akyol, D. Nath, and S. Rajan, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 263503 (2014).
M.E. Coltrin, A.G. Baca, and R.J. Kaplar, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol. 6, 11 (2017).
M. Farahmand, C. Garetto, E. Bellotti, K.F. Brennan, M. Goano, E. Ghillino, G. Ghione, J.D. Albrecht, and P.P. Ruden, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 48, 3 (2001).
M. Singh, M.A. Casbon, M.J. Uren, J.W. Pomeroy, S. Dalcanale, S. Karboyan, P.J. Tasker, M.H. Wong, K. Sasaki, A. Kuramata, S. Yamakoshi, M. Higashiwaki, and M. Kuball, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 39, 10 (2018).
W. Zhang, J. Zhang, M. Xiao, L. Zhang, and Y. Hao, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 39, 9 (2018).
M. Xiao, J. Zhang, X. Duan, W. Zhang, H. Shan, J. Ning, and Y. Hao, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 39, 8 (2018).
A.G. Baca, B.A. Klein, J.R. Wendt, S.M. Lepkowski, C.D. Nordquist, A.M. Armstrong, A.A. Allerman, E.A. Douglas, and R.J. Kaplar, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 40, 1 (2019).
T. Razzak, S. Hwang, A. Coleman, S. Bajaj, H. Xue, Y. Zhang, Z. Jamal-Eddine, S.H. Sohel, W. Lu, A. Khan, and S. Rajan, Electron. Lett. 54, 23 (2018).
B.A. Klein, A.G. Baca, A.M. Armstrong, A.A. Allerman, C.A. Sanchez, E.A. Douglas, M.H. Crawford, M.A. Miller, P.G. Kotula, T.R. Fortune, and V.M. Abate, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol. 6, 11 (2017).
G. Vanko, T. Lalinsky, Z. Mozolova, J. Liday, P. Vogrincic, A. Vincze, F. Uherek, S. Hascık, and I. Kostic, Vacuum 82, 2 (2008).
E.A. Douglas, C.A. Sanchez, R.J. Kaplar, A.A. Allerman, and A.G. Baca, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 35, 2 (2016).
Y. Cai, Y. Zhou, K.M. Lau, and K.J. Chen, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 53, 9 (2006).
S. Chowdhury, B.L. Swenson, and U.K. Mishra, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 29, 6 (2008).
T. Palacios, C.-S. Suh, A. Chakraborty, S. Keller, S.P. DenBaars, and U.K. Mishra, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 27, 6 (2006).
L. Shen, T. Palacios, C. Poblenz, A. Corrion, A. Chakraborty, N. Fichtenbaum, S. Keller, S.P. Denbaars, J.S. Speck, and U.K. Mishra, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 27, 4 (2006).
L. Yang, B. Hou, M. Mi, J. Zhu, M. Zhang, Q. Zhu, Y. He, L. Chen, X. Zhou, X. Ma, Y. Hao, IEEE IRPS 2017 Conference Proceedings (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/irps.2017.7936411.
C.H. Oxley, M.J. Uren, A. Coates, and D.G. Hayes, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 53, 3 (2005).
C.H. Oxley and M.J. Uren, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 52, 2 (2005).
S. Bajaj, O.F. Shoron, P.S. Park, S. Krishnamoorthy, F. Akyol, T.-H. Hung, S. Reza, E.M. Chumbes, J. Khurgin, and S. Rajan, Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 153504 (2015).
U.V. Bhapkar and M.S. Shur, J. Appl. Phys. 82, 4 (1997).
E.O. Johnson, 1958 IRE International Convention Record (1965). https://doi.org/10.1109/irecon.1965.1147520.
A.Q. Huang, IEEE Electron Device Lett. 25, 5 (2004).
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Jennifer Barrios for her assistance in device fabrication. This paper describes objective technical results and analysis. Any subjective views or opinions that might be expressed in the paper do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government. Supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Sandia National Laboratories, a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Klein, B.A., Baca, A.G., Lepkowski, S.M. et al. Saturation Velocity Measurement of Al0.7Ga0.3N-Channel High Electron Mobility Transistors. J. Electron. Mater. 48, 5581–5585 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07421-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07421-1