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Studies of Electron Beam Evaporated SiO2/AlGaN/GaN Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor High-

Electron-Mobility Transistors

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2005 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 44 L812

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Japanese Journal of Applied Physics
Vol. 44, No. 25, 2005, pp. L 812–L 815
#2005 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Studies of Electron Beam Evaporated SiO2 /AlGaN/GaN

Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor High-Electron-Mobility Transistors
Subramaniam A RULKUMARAN
, Takashi EGAWA and Hiroyasu I SHIKAWA
Research Center for Nano-Device and System, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Showa-ku, Gokiso-cho, Nagoya 466-8555, Japan
(Received February 24, 2005; accepted May 11, 2005; published June 10, 2005)

The metal–oxide–semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors (MOSHEMTs) have been demonstrated and its dc
characteristics were examined and compared with the conventional AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The electron beam (EB) evaporated
SiO2 layers were used as a gate-insulator. Capacitance–voltage plot of MOS contacts revealed the existence of injection type
complete accumulation up to +4.0 V. The fabricated MOSHEMTs have exhibited better dc characteristics when compared
with the conventional AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The MOSHEMTs could operate at positive gate-biases as high as +4.0 V. The
2.0-mm-gate-length EB-SiO2 MOSHEMTs exhibited higher drain current density and extrinsic transconductance of 856 mA/
mm and 145 mS/mm when compared to the conventional AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The gate leakage current (IgLeak ) was three
orders of magnitude lower than that of the conventional AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The stable device operations at high operating
voltages with low IgLeak and high gmmax values leads to the occurrence of low trap density at EB-SiO2 /AlGaN
interface. [DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.44.L812]
KEYWORDS: electron beam evaporated SiO2 , AlGaN/GaN, MOSHEMTs, HEMTs, leakage current

GaN is promising for applications in high-temperature,
high-power electronics.1–4) The Schottky based GaN high-
electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) are suffering from
large gate leakage current (IgLeak ). To reduce the IgLeak ,
variety of gate oxides/insulators such as electron beam (EB)
evaporated SiO2 ,5,6) plasma enhanced chemical vapor de-
posited (PECVD) SiO2 ,5,7) Photo-CVD SiO2 ,8) PECVD-
Si3 N4 ,5,9) AlN,10,11) Ga2 O3 (Gd2 O3 ),10) native oxide,12)
nickel oxide13) and AlON14) have been realized to get high
quality metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) or metal–insu-
lator–semiconductor (MIS) structures. High breakdown
voltage with low IgLeak have been reported on GaN-based
MOS field-effect-transistors (FETs)/MISFETs and AlGaN/
GaN MOS and MIS heterostructure field-effect transistors
(HFETs) using PECVD-SiO2 and -Si3 N4 as gate insula-
tors.15–17) Enhancement of breakdown voltage in AlGaN/
GaN HEMTs with SiO2 passivation layer was observed and
reported elsewhere.18) Till now, researchers have demon-
strated low extrinsic transconductance (gmmax ) values of
metal–oxide–semiconductor high-electron-mobility transis-
tors (MOSHEMTs) or MOSHFETs.8–17) Recently, Maeda et
al.19) demonstrated high gmmax of 280 mS/mm from thin
bilayer Al2 O3 /Si3 N4 insulating gate layers MOSHEMTs.
Comparatively good quality EB evaporation SiO2 with low
interface state density on n-GaN has been realized and
reported elsewhere.5) In this letter, we report the fabrication
and dc characteristics of MOSHEMTs with high gate voltage
swing and low IgLeak using EB evaporated SiO2 gate
insulator. The MOSHEMTs characteristics were also com-
pared with the conventional HEMTs.
The AlGaN/GaN heterostructures were grown on (0001)-
oriented sapphire substrates using atmospheric pressure
metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). The
Al content of AlGaN layers was maintained at 26%. The
device isolation was accomplished by mesa dry etching
down to i-GaN by BCl3 plasma reactive ion etching. 80-nm-
thick SiO2 dielectric layers were deposited with the


Present address: Temasek Laboratories, Nanyang Technological Univer-
sity, Research TechnoPlaza, Singapore 637553.
E-mail address: arul001@yahoo.com
evaporation rate of 2–3 A/s
at 150 C on HEMT structure
using EB evaporation method. To get good composition of
the SiO2 layer, an oxygen counter pressure was applied
while evaporation. The composition of the EB-SiO2 layers
was checked using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
measurements.5) The measured composition of the deposited
dielectric layer was slightly Si rich in nature. The evaporated
EB-SiO2 layers were etched-off from the source and drain
region using buffered HF solution. Multilayer Ti/Al/Ni/Au
(18/75/12/40 nm) metals were used as source & drain
ohmic contacts followed by lamp annealing at 775 C for 30 s
in N2 atmosphere. The ohmic contact yielded contact
resistance Rc ¼ 1:5 mm and sheet resistance Rsh ¼
500 /sq. Maeda et al.18) observed a low Rc values of
0.3 mm with high current operation by forming the ohmic
contacts on the re-grown nþ -GaN. The EB-SiO2 layers were
etched down to 40 nm using buffered HF solution and gate
metals Pd/Ti/Au (40/20/60 nm) were formed using con-
ventional lift-off process. To reduce etching rate of SiO2
layer, water has been added in the buffered HF solution. In
the case of HEMTs, the same gate metals were deposited
after complete removal of EB-SiO2 layer. The EB-SiO2
layer acts as both passivation and as a gate electrode. The
fabricated transistor dimensions are as follows: source–drain
distance ðLsd Þ ¼ 10 mm; gate width ðWg Þ ¼ 15 mm; gate
length ðLg Þ ¼ 2:0 mm and source–gate distance ðLsg Þ ¼ 3:5
mm. Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of AlGaN/GaN
MOSHEMTs and HEMTs. The device dc characteristics
were performed at room temperature (RT) using Agilent
4156c semiconductor parameter analyzer. Capacitance–
voltage (C–V) measurements were carried out with the
50 mV/s sweep rate at 1 MHz on 150 mm diameter guard-
ring geometry EB-SiO2 /AlGaN MOS diodes using HP4845
LCR meter.
The RT Hall mobility’s and two dimensional electron gas
(2DEG) carrier densities of 1050 and of 1:0  1013 cm2
were observed from AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on sap-
phire. The ionized 2DEG carrier density of 4:1  1013 cm2
was obtained from C–V measurements. The EB-SiO2 /
AlGaN/GaN interface quality has been confirmed using C–
V measurements. Figure 2 shows 1 MHz C–V plot of EB-

L 812
Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 44, No. 25 (2005) S. ARULKUMARAN et al. L 813

Ti/Al/Ni/Au Pd/Ti/Au Ti/Al/Ni/Au Ti/Al/Ni/Au Pd/Ti/Au Ti/Al/Ni/Au

G G
S D S D
i-Al0.26Ga0.74 N - 3 nm EB–SiO2
i-Al0.26Ga0.74 N - 3 nm
n-Al0.26Ga0.74 N -15 nm n-Al0.26Ga0.74 N -15 nm
i-Al0.26Ga0.74 N - 7 nm i-Al0.26Ga0.74 N - 7 nm
i-GaN - 3 µ m i-GaN - 3 µ m
LT-GaN - 30 nm LT-GaN - 30 nm

Sapphire Sapphire

HEMT MOSHEMT
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of fabricated SiO2 /AlGaN/GaN MOSHEMTs and AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.

300 SiO2 /AlGaN/GaN MOS and AlGaN/GaN Schttoky con-

tacts. It is clear that the fabricated MOS diodes are
dSiO =37 nm exhibiting charging, inversion and complete accumulation
250 2
of charges for the gate voltage range of 10 to +4 V. Due to
HEMT a larger gate-to-channel separation, the diode threshold
200 voltage shifted towards the negative voltage side. A similar
voltage shift was observed in the fabricated MOSHEMTs
C(pF)

150
(see the Fig. 3). Our previous report6) does not reveal the
negative threshold voltage shift while doing C–V measure-
ments. The deposited SiO2 layers of this report is of better
100 quality compared to our previous report.6) Low interface
MOSHEMT state density (5:3  1011 cm2 eV1 ) has been observed on
50 n-GaN using EB-SiO2 .5) The EB deposited SiO2 layer
thickness was determined using the equation,
 
0 "SiO2 d2DEG CMS
dSiO2 ¼ 1 ;
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 "AlGaN CMOS
Voltage (V)
where "SiO2 and "AlGaN are the dielectric permittivity of SiO2
Fig. 2. C–V characteristics of EB-SiO2 MOS and Schottky contacts (3.9) and AlGaN layer (9.0), respectively. CMOS and CMS are
fabricated on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. the capacitances of equal area contacts on the oxide and

1000 Wg /L g = 15/2 µm (a) Wg /L g = 15/2 µm (b)

MOSHEMT HEMT
800
IDS (mA/mm)

600

400

200

0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
VDS (V) VDS(V)

Fig. 3. IDS –VDS characteristics of (a) EB-SiO2 /AlGaN/GaN MOSHEMTs and (b) AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Top of Vg ¼ þ4 to 5 V,
Step: 1:0 V (MOSHEMTs); Top of Vg ¼ þ1:5 to 3:5 V, Step: 1:0 V (HEMTs).
L 814 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 44, No. 25 (2005) S. ARULKUMARAN et al.

oxide free areas. Using the data of Fig. 2 and the equation, 10
3
14
the SiO2 thickness dSiO2 was determined to be 36 to 38 nm. 2 (a) (b)
10 Wg /L g =15/2.0 µm
This is in good agreement with the dSiO2 value of 40 nm 1
12
expected from the etching rate. Reproducible thickness 10
0 10
values were obtained on various MOS diodes located in 10

Ig (mA/mm)

Ig(mA/mm)
different places of the sample. -1
10 8
MOSHEMT
Figure 3 shows current–voltage (IDS –VDS ) characteristics -2
HEMT
10 6
of EB-SiO2 /AlGaN/GaN MOSHEMTs and conventional -3
AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The device was completely pinched- 10
-4 4
off at around 5:0 V. The MOSHEMT swings between the 10
-5 2
gate biases of 5:5 to +4.0 V with high linearity. As seen, a 10
maximum drain current density (IDmax ) of close to 856 mA/ -6
10 0
mm was measured at a positive gate voltage of +4.0 V. -40 -30 -20 -10 0 0 1 2
Assuming the maximum sheet carrier density in an un-doped Vgs (V) Vgs(V)

2DEG channel ns is about 1  1013 cm2 and the maximum

drain current in the channel, IDmax ¼ 856 mA/mm. we
estimate the effective carrier velocity in the channel veff ¼
IDmax =qns ¼ 5  106 cm/s, which is in good agreement with
the reported values. From this, we found that the existence of
interface trap density does not affect the device dc character-
istics.
Figure 4 shows the measured transfer characteristics of
MOSHEMTs and conventional HEMTs. A maximum trans-
conductance, gmmax of 145 and 160 mS/mm, was measured
for 2.0-mm-gate-length MOSHEMTs and conventional
HEMTs, respectively. The gmmax values of MOSHEMTs
are smaller than that of the conventional HEMTs. The gmmax
values of MOSHEMTs are higher than that of previously
reported values.8–17) Maeda et al.19) observed higher gmmax
values from thin bilayer insulating gate layer MOSHEMTs.
Though authors have obtained very low IgLeak values, the
MOSHEMTs have not tested higher than the gate voltage of
2.0 V. A negative threshold voltage (Vth ) shift was observed
on MOSHEMTs when compared to conventional HEMTs.
The increased gate-to-channel separation is responsible for
the Vth shift towards negative side (5:2 V). Khan et al.15,16)
demonstrated 2.1 times increase of Vth when compared with
conventional HEMTs using PECVD grown SiO2 dielectric
layer of thickness 10 nm. However, the increase of Vth is not
in agreement with the previous reports. This Vth discrepancy
may be the possibility of little higher positive charge density
1000
Wg /Lg=15/2.0 µm
150
800
gm (mS/mm)
Fig. 5. (a) Reverse and (b) forward Ig –Vgs characteristics of EB-SiO2 /
AlGaN/GaN MOSHEMTs and AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.
in the EB-SiO2 /AlGaN interfaces when compared to
PECVD-SiO2 /AlGaN interfaces. Low interface state density
(2:5  1011 eV1 cm2 ) has been observed in PECVD-SiO2 /
nGaN interface when compared to EB-SiO2 /n-GaN inter-
face (5:3  1011 eV1 cm2 ) and reported.5) The incorpora-
tion of positive charge may have been incorporated while
doing buffered etching process. The process conditions of
this report is different from previous reports.15,16)
Figures 5(a) and 5(b) shows the gate current–voltage
characteristics of MOSHEMTs and HEMTs for an identical
device geometry of Wg =Lg ¼ 15=2:0 mm. The reverse IgLeak
at the gate voltage of 40 V for MOSHEMTs (2:29  104
mA/mm) is about three orders of magnitude lower than that
of conventional HEMTs (9:5  101 mA/mm). About six
orders of low gate leakage current was observed in AlGaN/
GaN MOSHEMTs using PECVD grown SiO2 dielectric
layer.15,16) Due to the EB-SiO2 dielectric insulating layer, an
increase of on-voltage was also observed [see the Fig. 5(b)].
The observation of high gate leakage current when com-
pared with the results of ref. 15 is due to Si-rich EB
evaporated SiO2 layers which was confirmed by XPS
measurements.5) The studies of drain current collapse and
break-down characteristics in MOSHEMTs are under prog-
ress. The observation of low IgLeak is good for high
performance GaN based electronic devices which are
suitable for high power microwave switching device
applications.
The demonstration of EB evaporated SiO2 /AlGaN/GaN
MOSHEMTs and its dc characteristics were examined and

Id (mA/mm)

600
100 compared with the conventional HEMTs. The C–V plot
indicates the suitability of high voltage operation of MOS
MOSHEMT 400 contacts. The MOSHEMTs could operate at positive gate-
biases as high as +4.0 V. The MOSHEMTs exhibited IDmax
50
as high as 856 mA/mm. The gmmax of 145 mS/mm has been
200
found in 2.0-mm-gate-length EB-SiO2 MOSHEMTs. Three
HEMT orders of magnitude low IgLeak was observed in MOS-
0 0 HEMTs when compared to the conventional HEMTs. The
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 stable device operations at high gate voltages with low IgLeak
Vgs (V) and high gmmax leads to the occurrence of low trap density at
EB-SiO2 /AlGaN interface. From these experimental results,
Fig. 4. Transfer characteristics of EB-SiO2 /AlGaN/GaN MOSHEMTs SiO2 dielectric layer by EB evaporation is also a good gate
and AlGaN/GaN HEMTs measured at VDS ¼ 10 V. insulator for high performance MOSHEMTs.
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