Traps centers and deep defects contribution in current instabilities for AlGaN/GaN HEMT's on silicon and sapphire substrates

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with Si and Al2O3 substrates reveals anomalies on Ids–Vds–T and Igs–Vgs–T characteristics (degradation in drain current, kink effect, barrier height fluctuations, etc.). Stress and random telegraph signal (RTS) measurements prove the presence of trap centers responsible for drain current degradation. An explanation of the trapping mechanism responsible for current instabilities is proposed. Deep defects analysis performed by capacitance transient spectroscopy (C-DLTS), frequency dispersion of the output conductance (Gds(f)), respectively, on gate/source and drain/source contacts and RTS prove the presence of deep defects localized, respectively, in the gate and in the channel regions. Defects detected by C-DLTS and Gds(f) are strongly correlated, respectively, to barrier height inhomogeneities and kink anomalies. Gate current analysis confirms the presence of (G–R) centers acting like traps at the interface GaN/AlGaN. Finally, the localization of these traps defects is proposed. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.