http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/5610941/5624686/05624745.pdf

Power electronics

The role of extended and point defects, and key impurities such as C, O, and H, on the electrical and optical properties of GaN is reviewed. Recent progress in the development of high reliability contacts, thermal processing, dry and wet etching techniques, implantation doping and isolation, and gate insulator technology is detailed. Finally, the performance of GaN-based electronic and photonic devices such as field effect transistors, UV detectors, laser diodes, and light-emitting diodes is covered, along with the influence of process-induced or grown-in defects and impurities on the device physics.

Gan : processing, defects, and devices

Low-frequency noise with a spectral density that depends inversely on frequency has been observed in a wide variety of systems including current fluctuations in resistors, intensity fluctuations in music and signals in human cognition. In electronics, the phenomenon, which is known as 1/f noise, flicker noise or excess noise, hampers the operation of numerous devices and circuits, and can be a significant impediment to the development of practical applications from new materials. Graphene offers unique opportunities for studying 1/f noise because of its two-dimensional structure and widely tunable two-dimensional carrier concentration. The creation of practical graphene-based devices will also depend on our ability to understand and control the low-frequency noise in this material system. Here, the characteristic features of 1/f noise in graphene and few-layer graphene are reviewed, and the implications of such noise for the development of graphene-based electronics including high-frequency devices and sensors are examined.

Low-frequency 1/ f noise in graphene devices

This paper presents a method with an accurate control of threshold voltages (Vth) of AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) using a fluoride-based plasma treatment. Using this method, the Vth of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs can be continuously shifted from -4 V in a conventional depletion-mode (D-mode) AlGaN/GaN HEMT to 0.9 V in an enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN HEMT. It was found that the plasma-induced damages result in a mobility degradation of two-dimensional electron gas. The damages can be repaired and the mobility can be recovered by a post-gate annealing step at 400 degC. At the same time, the shift in Vth shows a good thermal stability and is not affected by the post-gate annealing. The enhancement-mode HEMTs show a performance (transconductance, cutoff frequencies) comparable to the D-mode HEMTs. Experimental results confirm that the threshold-voltage shift originates from the incorporation of F ions in the AlGaN barrier. In addition, the fluoride-based plasma treatment was also found to be effective in lowering the gate-leakage current, in both forward and reverse bias regions. A physical model of the threshold voltage is proposed to explain the effects of the fluoride-based plasma treatment on AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Control of Threshold Voltage of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by Fluoride-Based Plasma Treatment: From Depletion Mode to Enhancement Mode

Diamond as an electronic material

Low-frequency noise in the frequency region of 20 Hz to 20 kHz is investigated in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown on SiC substrates. The noise spectra have the form of the 1/f (flicker) noise. The measured Hooge parameter is as low as 0.0001. This value is comparable with Hooge parameter values for commercial GaAs field effect transistors and approximately two orders of magnitude smaller than Hooge parameter value measured for AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown on sapphire. The level of noise depends on the gate leakage current; the noise is much higher in devices with a high gate leakage current. The small measured values of the Hooge parameter are related to a smaller leakage current and to a better material quality of the devices on SiC substrates and to a high electron sheet density. The low levels of the 1/f noise in the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on SiC substrates make them suitable for applications in communication systems.

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility field effect transistors with low 1/f noise

The influence of the magnetic field on the excitation of plasma waves in InGaAs/AlInAs lattice matched high electron mobility transistors is reported. The threshold source-drain voltage of the excitation of the terahertz emission shifts to higher values under a magnetic field increasing from 0 to 6 T. We show that the main change of the emission threshold in relatively low magnetic fields (smaller than approximately 4 T) is due to the magnetoresistance of the ungated parts of the channel. In higher magnetic fields, the effect of the magnetic field on the gated region of the device becomes important.

Magnetic field effect on the terahertz emission from nanometer InGaAs/AlInAs high electron mobility transistors

The effect of the gate leakage current fluctuations on noise properties of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs) has been studied in conventional HFET structures and in AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor heterostructure field effect transistors (MOS-HFETs). The comparison of the noise properties of conventional AlGaN/GaN HFETs and AlGaN/GaN MOS-HFETs fabricated on the same wafer, allowed us to estimate the contribution of the gate current noise to the HFET’s output noise. The effect of the gate current fluctuations on output noise properties of HFETs depends on the level of noise in the AlGaN/GaN HFETs. For the transistors with a relatively high magnitude of the Hooge parameter α∼10−3, even a relatively large leakage current Ig (Ig/Id∼10−3–10−2, where Id is the drain current) does not contribute much to the output noise. In HFETs with a relatively small values of α (α∼10−5–10−4), the contribution of the leakage current to output noise can be significant even at Ig/Id∼10−4–10−3. For such transistors, a very rapid increase of the 1/f noise with gate bias was observed. The differences in the noise behavior can be linked to the material quality of the AlGaN and GaN layers in different types of HFETs.

/pdf/effect-of-gate-leakage-current-on-noise-properties-of-algan-4j1jliam3a.pdf

Effect of gate leakage current on noise properties of AlGaN/GaN field effect transistors

For Silicon Carbide (SiC) high-voltage rectifier diodes, contradictions appear when the most important parameter of the diodes, the minority carrier lifetime, is measured by different techniques. A qualitative analysis and a computer simulation have been carried out to clarify the origin of these contradictions. For 4H-SiC p/sup +/n diodes with 6 kV blocking capability, data on residual voltage drop at high current densities, switch-on time, reverse current recovery, and post-injection voltage decay are analyzed. It is shown that the whole set of experimental data can be explained by the existence of a thin (l/spl sim/0.1 /spl mu/m) layer near the metallurgical boundary of the p/sup +/n junction with very small carrier lifetime /spl tau//sub l/ that is essentially smaller than the carrier lifetime /spl tau/ across the remaining part of the 50-/spl mu/m n-base. It is emphasized that the existence of such a layer allows, under certain conditions, the combination of a relatively low residual forward voltage drop and very fast reverse recovery. Approaches to minority carrier lifetime measurements are discussed.

"Paradoxes" of carrier lifetime measurements in high-voltage SiC diodes

The low-frequency generation recombination and the 1/f noise in AlGaN Schottky barrier photodetectors with high (40%) Al fraction has been investigated under forward and reverse bias conditions. The activation energy of local level contributing to noise was found to be Ea≈1 eV. Depending on the forward current level, the noise from Schottky barrier or from the series resistance (contacts and/or base) predominates. The upper bound of the Hooge parameter in Al0.4Ga0.6N was estimated as α⩽10.

M. E. Levinshtein

Papers

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility field effect transistors with low 1/f noise

Magnetic field effect on the terahertz emission from nanometer InGaAs/AlInAs high electron mobility transistors

Effect of gate leakage current on noise properties of AlGaN/GaN field effect transistors

"Paradoxes" of carrier lifetime measurements in high-voltage SiC diodes

Low-frequency noise in Al0.4Ga0.6N-based Schottky barrier photodetectors