Impact of Defects on the Low-Field Electron Mobility in GaN-on-Si HEMTs

In this work, we investigate the field and temperature dependence of the electron mobility in aluminum-gallium-nitride/gallium-nitride (AlGaN/GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) realized on GaN-on-silicon (Si) substrates. For this purpose we employ an extraction method to eliminate paras...

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Main Authors: Ran Zhou, D. J. Gravesteijn, R. J. E. Hueting
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11031174/
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author Ran Zhou
D. J. Gravesteijn
R. J. E. Hueting
author_facet Ran Zhou
D. J. Gravesteijn
R. J. E. Hueting
author_sort Ran Zhou
collection DOAJ
description In this work, we investigate the field and temperature dependence of the electron mobility in aluminum-gallium-nitride/gallium-nitride (AlGaN/GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) realized on GaN-on-silicon (Si) substrates. For this purpose we employ an extraction method to eliminate parasitic and fringing effects. Our results show that especially at low fields the temperature dependence of the mobility, and consequently that of the specific on-resistance, is strongly affected by stress-induced charged dislocation scattering. For explaining the mobility behaviour at low fields, the subthreshold operation regime of the HEMTs has also been analyzed. An interface trap density at the AlGaN/GaN interface <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(N_{\textrm {it}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sim ~6.9\times 10^{10}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm&#x2212;2 has been extracted independent of the temperature which is close to the extracted dislocation density from mobility measurements. This suggests that the relatively high dislocation density in the GaN layer, which is a consequence of the still imperfect buffer layer in the GaN-on-Si substrate that is used to accommodate the strain difference, has an impact on <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N_{\textrm {it}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, thus subthreshold swing, in addition to the mobility reduction.
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spelling doaj-art-c9bf8e07a3874f249d94ed032ecdd8f52025-08-20T03:29:35ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society2168-67342025-01-011351652310.1109/JEDS.2025.357726011031174Impact of Defects on the Low-Field Electron Mobility in GaN-on-Si HEMTsRan Zhou0https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6622-1857D. J. Gravesteijn1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4628-1947R. J. E. Hueting2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0773-8978MESA+ Institute, University of Twente, Enschede, The NetherlandsMESA+ Institute, University of Twente, Enschede, The NetherlandsMESA+ Institute, University of Twente, Enschede, The NetherlandsIn this work, we investigate the field and temperature dependence of the electron mobility in aluminum-gallium-nitride/gallium-nitride (AlGaN/GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) realized on GaN-on-silicon (Si) substrates. For this purpose we employ an extraction method to eliminate parasitic and fringing effects. Our results show that especially at low fields the temperature dependence of the mobility, and consequently that of the specific on-resistance, is strongly affected by stress-induced charged dislocation scattering. For explaining the mobility behaviour at low fields, the subthreshold operation regime of the HEMTs has also been analyzed. An interface trap density at the AlGaN/GaN interface <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(N_{\textrm {it}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sim ~6.9\times 10^{10}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm&#x2212;2 has been extracted independent of the temperature which is close to the extracted dislocation density from mobility measurements. This suggests that the relatively high dislocation density in the GaN layer, which is a consequence of the still imperfect buffer layer in the GaN-on-Si substrate that is used to accommodate the strain difference, has an impact on <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N_{\textrm {it}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, thus subthreshold swing, in addition to the mobility reduction.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11031174/High electron mobility transistorstwo-dimensional electron gasgallium-nitridemobilityinterface statesdislocations
spellingShingle Ran Zhou
D. J. Gravesteijn
R. J. E. Hueting
Impact of Defects on the Low-Field Electron Mobility in GaN-on-Si HEMTs
IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society
High electron mobility transistors
two-dimensional electron gas
gallium-nitride
mobility
interface states
dislocations
title Impact of Defects on the Low-Field Electron Mobility in GaN-on-Si HEMTs
title_full Impact of Defects on the Low-Field Electron Mobility in GaN-on-Si HEMTs
title_fullStr Impact of Defects on the Low-Field Electron Mobility in GaN-on-Si HEMTs
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Defects on the Low-Field Electron Mobility in GaN-on-Si HEMTs
title_short Impact of Defects on the Low-Field Electron Mobility in GaN-on-Si HEMTs
title_sort impact of defects on the low field electron mobility in gan on si hemts
topic High electron mobility transistors
two-dimensional electron gas
gallium-nitride
mobility
interface states
dislocations
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11031174/
work_keys_str_mv AT ranzhou impactofdefectsonthelowfieldelectronmobilityinganonsihemts
AT djgravesteijn impactofdefectsonthelowfieldelectronmobilityinganonsihemts
AT rjehueting impactofdefectsonthelowfieldelectronmobilityinganonsihemts