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http://dx.doi.org/10.4218/etrij.16.0015.0040

Effect of Fluoride-based Plasma Treatment on the Performance of AlGaN/GaN MISHFET  

Ahn, Ho-Kyun (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Kim, Hae-Cheon (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Kang, Dong-Min (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Kim, Sung-Il (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Lee, Jong-Min (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Lee, Sang-Heung (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Min, Byoung-Gue (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Yoon, Hyoung-Sup (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Kim, Dong-Young (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Lim, Jong-Won (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Kwon, Yong-Hwan (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Nam, Eun-Soo (ICT Materials & Components Research Laboratory, ETRI)
Park, Hyoung-Moo (Electronics and Electrical Engineering Division, Dongguk University)
Lee, Jung-Hee (School of Electrical Engineering and Computer, Kyoungpook National University)
Publication Information
ETRI Journal / v.38, no.4, 2016 , pp. 675-684 More about this Journal
Abstract
This paper demonstrates the effect of fluoride-based plasma treatment on the performance of $Al_2O_3/AlGaN/GaN$ metal-insulator-semiconductor heterostructure field effect transistors (MISHFETs) with a T-shaped gate length of $0.20{\mu}m$. For the fabrication of the MISHFET, an $Al_2O_3$ layer as a gate dielectric was deposited using atomic layer deposition, which greatly decreases the gate leakage current, followed by the deposition of the silicon nitride layer. The silicon nitride layer on the gate foot region was then selectively removed through a reactive ion etching technique using $CF_4$ plasma. The etching process was continued for a longer period of time even after the complete removal of the silicon nitride layer to expose the $Al_2O_3$ gate dielectric layer to the plasma environment. The thickness of the $Al_2O_3$ gate dielectric layer was slowly reduced during the plasma exposure. Through this plasma treatment, the device exhibited a threshold voltage shift of 3.1 V in the positive direction, an increase of 50 mS/mm in trans conductance, a degraded off-state performance and a larger gate leakage current compared with that of the reference device without a plasma treatment.
Keywords
AlGaN; GaN; MISHFET; $CF_4$ plasma; $Al_2O_3$; gate leakage current;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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