(Invited) Electrothermal Performance Optimization of III-Nitride HEMTs Capped with Nanocrystalline Diamond. (25th April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tadjer, Marko J.; Anderson, Travis J; Feygelson, Tatyana I; Hobart, Karl D; Ancona, Mario G.; Koehler, Andrew D.; Hite, Jennifer K; Wheeler, Virginia D.; Pate, Bradford B; Kub, Francis J; Eddy, Charles R.
• Is Part Of: ECS transactions. Volume 72:Number 5(2016)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 8
• Publication Date: 2016-04-25
• Subjects: Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry; Periodicals; Electronic journals; Electronic journal; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1149/07205.0003ecst
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1938-5862

Abstract

Abstract : AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) capped with nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) have been demonstrated in the past to outperform electrically and thermally their SiN-passivated counterparts. However, a major process limitation for the integration of a diamond heat spreader has been the O2 -plasma damage in the gate opening associated with etching the diamond cap. A sacrificial gate (SG) process for plasma damage-free integration of top-side NCD capping layers is thus developed. On HEMTs with a SG, the addition of a NCD cap did not cause any significant degradation in mobility, carrier density, or sheet resistance. Hall characterization showed minimal (~6%) reduction in sheet carrier density and commensurate increase in sheet resistance, while maintaining mobility and on-state drain current density. Pulsed IDS and on-resistance were improved, indicating that a 10 nm SiN/500 nm NCD could offer improved AlGaN surface passivation compared to a more conventional 100 nm thick PECVD SiN film.