By making use of the quasi-two-dimensional （quasi-2D） model, the current-voltage （l-V） characteristics of In0AsA10.82N/A1N/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） with different gate lengths are simulated based on the measured capacitance-voltage （C-V） characteristics and I-V characteristics. By analyzing the variation of the electron mobility for the two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） with electric field, it is found that the different polarization charge distributions generated by the different channel electric field distributions can result in different polarization Coulomb field scatterings. The difference between the electron mobilities primarily caused by the polarization Coulomb field scatterings can reach up to 1522.9 cm2/V.s for the prepared In0.38AI0.82N/A1N/GaN HFETs. In addition, when the 2DEG sheet density is modulated by the drain-source bias, the electron mobility presents a peak with the variation of the 2DEG sheet density, the gate length is smaller, and the 2DEG sheet density corresponding to the peak point is higher.
In this study rectangular AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors(HFETs) with 22-nm and 12-nm AlGaN barrier layers are fabricated, respectively. Using the measured capacitance–voltage and current–voltage characteristics of the prepared devices with different Schottky areas, it is found that after processing the device, the polarization Coulomb field(PCF) scattering is induced and has an important influence on the two-dimensional electron gas electron mobility.Moreover, the influence of PCF scattering on the electron mobility is enhanced by reducing the AlGaN barrier thickness.This leads to the quite different variation of the electron mobility with gate bias when compared with the AlGaN barrier thickness. This mainly happens because the thinner AlGaN barrier layer suffers from a much stronger electrical field when applying a gate bias, which gives rise to a stronger converse piezoelectric effect.
Ni/Au Schottky contacts on A1N/GaN and A1GaN/GaN heterostructures are fabricated. Based on the measured current-voltage and capacitance-voltage curves, the electrical characteristics of AlN/GaN Schottky diode, such as Schottky barrier height, turn-on voltage, reverse breakdown voltage, ideal factor, and the current-transport mechanism, are analyzed and then compared with those of an A1GaN/GaN diode by self-consistently solving Schrodinger＇s and Poisson＇s equations. It is found that the dislocation-governed tunneling is dominant for both AlN/GaN and AlGaN/GaN Schottky diodes. However, more dislocation defects and a thinner barrier layer for AlN/GaN heterostrncture results in a larger tunneling probability, and causes a larger leakage current and lower reverse breakdown voltage, even though the Schottky barrier height of AlN/GaN Schottky diode is calculated to be higher that of an A1GaN/GaN diode.
Ni/Au Schottky contacts on AlN/GaN and AlGaN/GaN heterostructures are fabricated. Based on the measured current-voltage and capacitance-voltage curves, the polarization sheet charge density and relative permittivity are analyzed and calculated by self-consistently solving Schrodinger＇s and Poisson＇s equations. It is found that the values of relative permittivity and polarization sheet charge density of AlN/GaN diode are both much smaller than the ones of AlGaN/GaN diode, and also much lower than the theoretical values. Moreover, by fitting the measured forward 1-V curves, the extracted dislocations existing in the barrier layer of the AlN/GaN diode are found to be much more than those of the AlGaN/GaN diode. As a result, the conclusion can be made that compared with AlGaN/GaN diode the Schottky metal has an enhanced influence on the strain of the extremely thinner AlN barrier layer, which is attributed to the more dislocations.
An Ni/Au Schottky contact on an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure has been prepared. By using the peak-conductance model, the threshold voltage and the series resistance of the AlGaN/GaN diode are simultaneously extracted from the conductance-voltage （G-V） curve and found to be in good agreement with the ones obtained by using the capacitance-voltage （C-V） curve integration and the plot of dV/d（ln I） versus current I. Thus, a method of directly and simultaneously extracting both the threshold voltage and the series resistance from the conductance-voltage curve for the AlGaN/GaN Schottky diode is developed.
We simulate the current-voltage （I-V） characteristics of AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） with different gate lengths using the quasi-two-dimensional （quasi-2D） model. The calculation results obtained using the modified mobility model are found to accord well with the experimental data. By analyzing the variation of the electron mobility for the two-dimensional electron gas （213EG） with the electric field in the linear region of the AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFET I-V output characteristics, it is found that the polarization Coulomb field scattering still plays an important role in the electron mobility of AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFETs at the higher drain voltage and channel electric field. As drain voltage and channel electric field increase, the 2DEG density reduces and the polarization Coulomb field scattering increases, as a result, the 2DEG electron mobility decreases.
Using the measured capacitance-voltage curves ofNi/Au Schottky contacts with different areas and the current-voltage characteristics for the A1GaAs/GaAs, A1GaN/A1N/GaN and InoAsA10.szN/A1N/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） at low drain-source voltage, the two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） electron mobility for the prepared HFETs was calculated and analyzed. It was found that there is an obvious difference for the variation trend of the mobility curves between the Ⅲ-V nitride HFETs and the A1GaAs/GaAs HFETs. In the III-V nitride HFETs, the variation trend for the curves of the 2DEG electron mobility with the gate bias is closely related to the ratio of the gate length to the drainto-source distance. While the ratio of the gate length to the drainto-source distance has no effect on the variation trend for the curves of the 2DEG electron mobility with the gate bias in the A1GaAs/GaAs HFETs. The reason is attributed to the polarization Coulomb field scattering in the Ⅲ-V nitride HFETs.
An Ni Schottky contact on the A1GaN/GaN heterostructure is fabricated. The flat-band voltage for the Schottky contact on the A1GaN/GaN heterostructure is obtained from the forward current-voltage characteristics. With the measured capacitance-voltage curve and the flat-band voltage, the polarization charge density in the A1GaN/GaN heterostructure is investigated, and a simple formula for calculating the polarization charge density is obtained and analyzed. With the approach described in this paper, the obtained polarization charge density agrees well with the one calculated by self-consistently solving Schrodinger＇s and Poisson＇s equations.
Electron mobility scattering mechanism in AlN/GaN heterostuctures is investigated by temperature-dependent Hall measurement, and it is found that longitudinal optical phonon scattering dominates electron mobility near room temperature while the interface roughness scattering becomes the dominant carrier scattering mechanism at low temperatures （~ 100 K）. Based on measured current-voltage characteristics of prepared rectangular AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistor under different temperatures, the temperature-dependent variation of electron mobility under different gate biases is inves- tigated. The polarization Coulomb field （PCF） scattering is found to become an important carrier scattering mechanism after device processing under different temperatures. Moreover, it is found that the PCF scattering is not generated from the thermal stresses, but from the piezoelectric contribution induced by the electrical field in the thin A1N barrier layer. This is attributed to the large lattice mismatch between the extreme thinner AlN barrier layer and GaN, giving rise to a stronger converse piezoelectric effect.
