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Dielectric thin films for GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors

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Abstract

The effects of dielectric thin films on the performance of GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) were reviewed in this work. Firstly, the nonpolar dielectric thin films which act as both the surface passivation layers and the gate insulators of the high-frequency GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors were presented. Furthermore, the influences of dielectric thin films on the electrical properties of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the AlGaN/GaN hetero-structures were analyzed. It was found that the additional in-plane biaxial tensile stress was another important factor besides the change in surface potential profile for the device performance improvement of the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with dielectric thin films as both passivation layers and gate dielectrics. Then, two kinds of polar gate dielectric thin films, the ferroelectric LiNbO3 and the fluorinated Al2O3, were compared for the enhancement-mode GaN-based HEMTs, and an innovative process was proposed. At last, high-permittivity dielectric thin films were adopted as passivation layers to modulate the electric field and accordingly increase the breakdown voltage of GaN-based HEMTs. Moreover, the polyimide embedded with Cr particles effectively increased the breakdown voltage of GaN-based HEMTs. Finally, the effects of high-permittivity dielectric thin films on the potential distribution in the drift region were simulated, which showed an expanded electric field peak at the drain-side edge of gate electrode.

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 50932002) and the Research Foundation for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 2012018530003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, School of Microelectronics and Solid-State Electronics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China

    Yan-Rong Li, Xing-Zhao Liu, Jun Zhu, Ji-Hua Zhang, Lin-Xuan Qian & Wan-Li Zhang

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Li, YR., Liu, XZ., Zhu, J. et al. Dielectric thin films for GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistors. Rare Met. 34, 371–380 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-015-0451-3

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