• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.769-774
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• 2003

In this paper, we report on the DC characteristics of the AlGaN/GaN HFETs using physical models on piezoelectric and thermal effects. Employing the models was found to be essential for a realistic prediction of the DC current-voltage characteristics of the AlGaN/GaN HFETs. Though use of the implementation of the physical models, peak drain current, transconductance, pinch-off voltage, and most importantly, the negative slope in the current were accurately predicted. The importance of the heat sink effect was demonstrated by the comparison of the DC characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HFETs fabricated from different substrates including sapphire, Si and SiC. Highest peak current was achieved from the device with SiC by an effective suppression of heat sink effect.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.38 no.8
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• pp.13-19
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• 2001

We report on the fabrication and characterization of $Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}N$ HFETs with different barrier layer thickness which were grown using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE). The barrier thickness of $Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}N$/GaN HFETs could be optimized in order to maximize 2 dimensional electron gas induced by piezoelectric effect without the relaxation of $Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}N$ layer. $Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}N$/GaN (20 nm/2 mm) HFET with 0.6 ${\mu}m$-long and 34 ${\mu}m$-wide gate shows saturated current density ($V_{gs}=1\;V$) of 1.155 A/mm and transconductance of 250 ms/mm, respectively. From high frequency measurement, the fabricated $Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}N$/GaN HFETs showed $F_t=13$ GHz and $F_{max}=48$ GHz, respectively. The uniformity of less than 5% could be obtained over the 2 inch wafer. In addition to the optimization of epi-layer structure, the relation between breakdown voltage and high frequency characteristics has been examined.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.497-503
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• 2015

It is essential to acquire an accurate and simple technique for extracting the interface trap density ($D_{it}$) in order to characterize the normally-off gate-recessed AlGaN/GaN hetero field-effect transistors (HFETs) because they can undergo interface trap generation induced by the etch damage in each interfacial layer provoking the degradation of device performance as well as serious instability. Here, the frequency-dependent capacitance-voltage (C-V) method (FDCM) is proposed as a simple and fast technique for extracting $D_{it}$ and demonstrated in normally-off gate-recessed AlGaN/GaN HFETs. The FDCM is found to be not only simpler than the conductance method along with the same precision, but also much useful for a simple C-V model for AlGaN/GaN HFETs because it identifies frequency-independent and bias-dependent capacitance components.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.204-209
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• 2017

We have investigated a Mo/Au gate scheme for use in AlGaN/GaN-on-Si HFETs. AlGaN/GaN-on-Si HFETs were fabricated with Ni/Au or Mo/Au gates and their electrical characteristics were compared after thermal stress tests. While insignificant difference was observed in DC characteristics, the Mo/Au gate device exhibited lower on-resistance with superior pulsed characteristics in comparison with the Ni/Au gate device.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.867-872
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• 2016

We have investigated the channel mobility of AlGaN/GaN-on-Si recessed-metal-oxide-semiconductor-heterojunction field-effect transistors (recessed-MOS-HFET) with $SiO_2$ gate oxide. Both field-effect mobility and effective mobility for the recessed-MOS channel region were extracted as a function of the effective transverse electric field. The maximum field effect mobility was $380cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ near the threshold voltage. The effective channel mobility at the on-state bias condition was $115cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ at which the effective transverse electric field was 340 kV/cm. The influence of the recessed-MOS region on the overall channel mobility of AlGaN/GaN recessed-MOS-HFETs was also investigated.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.292-299
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• 2017

We propose pulse-mode dynamic $R_on$ measurement as a method for analyzing the effect of stress on large-scale high-power AlGaN/GaN HFETs. The measurements were carried out under the soft-switching condition (zero-voltage switching) and aimed to minimize the self-heating problem that exists with the conventional hard-switching measurement. The dynamic $R_on$ of the fabricated AlGaN/GaN MIS-HFETs was measured under different stabilization time conditions. To do so, the drain-gate bias is set to zero after applying the off-state stress. As the stabilization time increased from $ 0.1{\mu}s$ to 100 ms, the dynamic $R_on$ decreased from $160\Omega$ to $2\Omega$. This method will be useful in developing high-performance GaN power FETs suitable for use in high-efficiency converter/inverter topology design.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.478-483
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• 2014

We propose a new method which can extract the information about the electronic traps in the semi-insulating GaN buffer of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) using a simple test structure. The proposed method has a merit in the easiness of fabricating the test structure. Moreover, the electric fields inside the test structure are very similar to those inside the actual transistor, so that we can extract the information of bulk traps which directly affect the current collapse behaviors of AlGaN/GaN HEFTs. By applying the proposed method to the GaN buffer structures with various unintentionally doped GaN channel thicknesses, we conclude that the incorporated carbon into the GaN back barrier layer is the dominant origin of the bulk trap which affects the current collapse behaviors of AlGaN/GaN HEFTs.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.33-37
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• 2014

We have developed a novel passivation process employing a sacrificial gallium oxide process in order to recover the surface damage in AlGaN/GaN HFETs. Even with a conventional prepassivation process, surface damage during high temperature ohmic annealing cannot be avoided completely. Therefore, it is necessary to recover the damaged surface to avoid the characteristic degradation. In this work, a sacrificial gallium oxide process has been proposed in which the damaged surface after ohmic annealing was oxidized by oxygen plasma treatment and thereafter etched back using HCl. As a result, the leakage current was dramatically reduced and thus the subthreshold slope was significantly improved. In addition, the maximum drain current level was increased from 594 to 634 mA/mm. To verify the effects, the surface conditions were carefully investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.1167-1171
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• 2020

In this work, we proposed a graded gate-doping structure to alleviate an electric field in p-GaN gate layer in order to improve the reliability of normally-off GaN power devices. In a TCAD simulation by Silvaco Atlas, a distribution of the graded p-type doping concentration was optimized to have a threshold voltage and an output current characteristics as same as the reference device with a uniform p-type gate doping. The reduction of an maximum electric field in p-GaN gate layer was observed and it suggests that the gate reliability of p-GaN gate HFETs can be improved.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.221-225
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• 2016

This paper reports a new method to enable the normally-off operation of AlGaN/GaN heterojunction field-effect transistors (HFETs). A capacitor was connected to the gate input node of a normally-on AlGaN/GaN HFET with a Schottky gate where the Schottky gate acted as a clamping diode. The combination of the capacitor and Schottky gate functioned as a clamp circuit to downshift the input signal to enable the normally-off operation. The normally-off operation with a virtual threshold voltage of 5.3 V was successfully demonstrated with excellent dynamic switching characteristics.