SEMICONDUCTOR POWER DEVICES PROJECT - K.

MATOCHA

AlGaN/GaN HFET Design for Switching Applications

K. Matocha Semiconductor Power Devices Project Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY USA
I. I NTRODUCTION
TABLE I S PONTANEOUS POLARIZATION CHARGE DENSITY OF SEVERAL WURTZITE MATERIALS .

ALLIUM NITRIDE based heterojunction eld-effect transistors (HFETs) show great promise for high-frequency, high-power, and high-temperature applications. Many researchers have fabricated AlGaN/GaN HFETs with very impressive results, including a device with a current handling capability of 1.25 A/mm on SiC substrates[2]. Assuming a sheet charge density of 1.41013 cm2 , and a saturation velocity of 1107 cm/s, the maximum possible current is 2.25 A/mm. The large current handling capability of AlGaN/GaN HFETS is a result of the sheet charge densities, an order of magnitude larger than in AlGaAs/GaAs HEMTs. The origin of this charge has been attributed to polarization charge effects, even described as piezoelectric doping[3]. This report examines the effects of this polarization charge, particularly how the polarization charge can affect the breakdown voltage of high-power AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Novel AlGaN/GaN HFET structures for switching applications are described and simulated. II. P OLARIZATION CHARGE Gallium nitride and aluminum nitride both possess the wurtzite crystal structure also known as the hexagonal closepacked or 2H structure. The crystal consists of alternating Ga and N atomic layers, thus the surface of an epitaxially grown layer in the [0001] direction can terminate with either Ga or N atoms, depending on the initial growth conditions. Because of symmetry considerations, diamond cubic and zinc-blende structures cannot possess polarization charges. However, the wurtzite structure can be polarized, having a dipole across the crystal in the [0001] direction. The spontaneous polarization of several wurtzite materials is shown in Table I[1]. This spontaneous polarization varies with temperature and is known as pyroelectric polarization. Similarly, the polarization charge changes with lattice strain and is described as piezoelectric polarization. Typical epitaxial growth conditions of GaN result in Ga-face material. Ga-face material has a dipole with the electric eld in the [0001] direction (positive charge on the N-face, negative charge on the Ga-face). To understand the effects of the polarization charge, one must consider the charge components in the HFET structure (Figure 1). Solving for charge neutrality, Qs Qpol1 + Qdoping + Qpol1 qns Qpol2 + Qpol2 = 0 (1) where Qs is the surface trapped charge, Qdoping is the ionized impurities in the AlGaN barrier layer, Qpol1 is the AlGaN polarization charge and Qpol2 is the GaN polarization charge, and

Material AlN GaN InN ZnO BeO

Polarization charge density (q/cm2 ) -5.11013 -1.81013 -2.01013 -3.61013 -2.81013

Qdoping

Qs

q*ns

2D-EG

-Qpol1

-Qpol2 +Qpol1

+Qpol2

Fig. 1. Charge components in AlGaN/GaN heterojunction FETs.

ns is the two-dimensional electron-gas (2DEG) charge density. The polarization charge components provide no net charge, thus simplifying, qns = Qs + Qdoping it it seen that the solely the ionized surface states and the AlGaN barrier doping control the 2DEG sheet density. The notion of piezoelectric doping is not justied. The polarization charge can create a high electric eld in the AlGaN layer. For example, in GaN, the polarization-induced eld is given as, E= q 1.8 1013 Q = = 3.4 M V /cm ks 0 9.5 0

This value is approximately the same as the critical eld in GaN. In actual samples, this eld is reduced by surface trapped charges and ionized impurity charges.

SEMICONDUCTOR POWER DEVICES PROJECT - K. MATOCHA

Critical Breakdown Field (MV/cm) (estimated from EG)

x 10

13

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

x 10

Polarization charge (Q/cm2) (estimated))

4
Spontaneous

Total

2
Piezoelectric

0 0

20

40

60

80

100

2 0

20

40

60

80

100

% Al in AlGaN (%)

% Al in AlGaN (%)

Fig. 2. Estimated spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization charges in the AlGaN layer of AlGaN/GaN heterojunction FETs.
12

Fig. 3. Estimated critical electric eld of Alx Ga1x N.

Electric Field (MV/cm)

For the HEMT structure in the off-state, Equation 1 simplies to: 0 = Qs + Qdoping where Qdoping is always positive, so Qs must be modied to become a negative charge. In the off-state, the top AlGaN surface contains a negative charge equal to Qs + Qpol1 , creating a very high polarization-induced eld in the AlGaN barrier layer. Estimates of the the polarization charges (both spontaneous and piezoelectric) assume a linear dependence upon the Al mole fraction (x) of the Alx Ga1x N layer[4] as shown in Figure 2. The polarization-induced eld is in the [0001] or vertical direction of the HFET structure. For power HFETs, the voltage is blocked in the lateral direction. The superposition of the two elds can be performed by the Pythagorean theorem. Solving for the lateral eld, Ey,max =
2 Ec

10

8
(Qpol/epsAlGaN) EC

2
SchottkyUF HFETUCSB Ey,max= sqrt(E 2 (Qpol/epsAlGaN)2) C HFETUCSB

0 0

20

40

60

80

100

% Al in AlGaN (%)

Qpol1 kAlGaN
0

Fig. 4. Maximum lateral electric eld (solid), critical electric eld (dashed), and polarization eld (dotted) as a function of Al percent in Alx Ga1x N along with experimental AlGaN device characteristics.

(2) The AlGaN barrier layer thickness can be adjusted to control the sheet carrier density. The HFET band-diagram is useful for understanding the relationship of the thickness of the barrier layer to the surface sheet charge concentration (Figure 5). Assuming an undoped AlGaN barrier, the electric eld in the AlGaN layer is constant, caused by the polarization charges. As shown in Figure 5, the energy band at the Schottky barrier is pinned by the metal-semiconductor work-function difference, so the thin barrier has no sheet charge in the 2DEG in equilibrium. However as the barrier layer thickness is increased, the conduction band dips below the Fermi level, forming a 2DEG at the AlGaN/GaN interface. Similarly, in the drift region, the surface states pin the surface potential with a thick barrier, but remain un-ionized with the thin barrier. Considering the undoped barrier case, the critical thickness, tcrit , for zero 2DEG charge is given by[5] tcrit = (ED EC )
AlGaN

where Ec is the Alx Ga1x N critical electric eld and Ey,max is the maximum lateral electric eld. The critical electric eld is estimated as a power law function of the bandgap energy EcAlx Ga1x N = EcSi EGAlx Ga1x N EGSi
2

and is shown in Figure 3. The maximum lateral eld is reduced from the ideal critical eld of the semiconductor by the presense of the polarization charge, with a maximum of 3 MV/cm at about 10% Al mole fraction (Figure 4. III. S HEET CHARGE DENSITY For AlGaN/GaN HFETs, very high sheet charge densities (ns = 1.4 1013 cm2 ) have been achieved[2]. These sheet charge densities can be achieved because of the large conduction band offset between AlGaN and GaN. For power devices, a normally-off device is desirable, that is there is no conduction between source and drain with the gate terminal grounded.

qQpol1

(3)

where ED is equal to M S under the gate and EC Etrap un-

SEMICONDUCTOR POWER DEVICES PROJECT - K. MATOCHA

Thin AlGaN Gate region

m- s m- s

Thick AlGaN

2 1.8
2D-EG

x 10

13

Al0.35Ga0.65N

Sheet charge density (q/cm2)

1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2

Al0.15Ga0.85N Al0.25Ga0.75N

Thick AlGaN

Thin AlGaN

Drift region
2D-EG

Fig. 5. Band structure of AlGaN/GaN barrier with varying barrier thickness.

0 0

200

400

600

800

1000

AlGaN thickness (Angstroms)

500 450 400

Fig. 7. Sheet charge density as a function of barrier thickness for several Al mole fractions in the AlGaN barrier layer (ED =1.6 eV).

Critical thickness (A)

350

300

Al1-xGaxN

250

2D-EG

2D-EG

n-GaN

200 150 100 50 0 0 20 40 60 80 100

Sapphire

Fig. 8. The recessed-gate AlGaN/GaN HFET structure provides reduced GateDrain and Gate-Source resistances while maintaining normally-off operation.

% Al in AlGaN (%)

Fig. 6. Barrier critical thickness for zero 2DEG charge as a function of Al percentage in AlGaN barrier layer (ED =1.6 eV).

IV. D EVICE SIMULATIONS The two recessed gate structures described in the previous section were simulated using a two-dimensional nite element solver (MEDICI by Avant!). The gate length is 1 m, with 1 m gate-source and gate-drain spacing. The Al mole fraction of the AlGaN barrier layer is 34%. The AlGaN layer thickness is 1 nm. The surface trap density is 11013 cm2 located 1.67 eV below the conduction band. For the recessed-gate MOSHFET simulated, the oxide thickness is 4 nm. The drain characteristics of the recessed gate HFET are shown in Figure 10. The device is normally-off, and the threshold voltage is 0.15 V. The gate swing is limited by the gate conduction, whose characteristics are shown in Figure 11. The MOSHFET does not allow signicant gate current because of the insulating oxide layer. The MOSHFET structure

der the drift region, and EC is the conduction band offset at the AlGaN/GaN interface. The critical thickness with at 1.6 V barrier height is shown in Figure 6. Thin barriers (< 10 nm) are required for normally off devices. For amplifying devices, high-sheet charge densities are desirable, so thick barriers are used. As seen in Figure 7, the sheet charge density increases with Al percent in the AlGaN barrier layer. Normally off AlGaN/GaN HFETs have been fabricated with a single thin AlGaN layer, but these devices suffer from a large series resistance between the gate-drain and gate-source[7] since no 2DEG exists in those regions. This problem is alleviated by a recessed gate structure. In this structure (Figure 8), the gate recess provides for normally-off operation, yet the thick AlGaN between the gate-drain and gate-source develop a 2DEG under these regions, reducing the parasitic resistance. Another HFET structure that is promising is the MOSHFET structure which uses an oxide layer on top of the gate region to reduce the gate leakage currents[6]. For normally-off operation, a similar gate-recessed structure can be fabricated (Figure 9). The gate oxide can be used as a mask during selective epitaxy of the thick AlGaN regions.

insulator

D Al1-xGaxN

2D-EG

2D-EG

n-GaN

Sapphire

Fig. 9. The recessed-gate AlGaN/GaN MOSHFET structure provides reduced Gate-Drain and Gate-Source resistances and reduced gate leakage current while maintaining normally-off operation .

4
GaN HFET - Recessed Gate - Drain char.
2.50

SEMICONDUCTOR POWER DEVICES PROJECT - K. MATOCHA

GaN MOSHFET - Recessed Gate - Drain Char.
Vg=4 Vg=3 i(drain)(Amps/um) *10^-4 1.00 1.50 2.00 Vg=2

i(drain)(Amps/um) *10^-5 4.00 6.00

8.00

Vg=0.4

Vg=1

Vg=0.3 2.00 0.50

Vg=0.5

Vg=0.2 0.00 Vg=0.0,0.1 0.80 0.90 0.00 Vg=0 0.90 1.00

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40 0.50 0.60 v(drain)(Volts)

0.70

1.00

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40 0.50 0.60 v(drain)(Volts)

0.70

0.80

Fig. 10. Drain characteristics of 1 m gate length AlGaN/GaN HFET.

GaN HFET - Recessed Gate - Gate current
1.50

Fig. 12. Drain characteristics of 1 m gate length AlGaN/GaN MOSHFET.

Traps=1e13, V=50
1.20 0.00 1.00 0.20 Electric field (V/cm) *10^7 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00

0.25

i(gate)(Amps/um) *10^-7 0.50 0.75 1.00

1.25

0.00

1.50

2.00

2.50 Distance (Microns)

3.00

3.50

4.00

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40 0.50 0.60 v(gate)(Volts)

0.70

0.80

0.90

1.00

Fig. 11. Turn-on characteristics of Schottky gate diode of recessed-gate AlGaN/GaN HFET.

Fig. 13. AlGaN/GaN recessed-gate HFET electric eld prole in the AlGaN barrier layer with VG = 0 V, VDS = 50 V.

provides for an increased gate swing to provide a higher current handling capability, with a corresponding reduction in transconductance (Figure 12). The recessed-gate MOSHFET is normally off with a threshold voltage of 0.25 V. The breakdown voltage of the recessed-gate MOSHFET is less than 50 Volts, when the device should ideally block 300 V with a 1 m gate-drain spacing. The electric eld prole (Figure 13) in the AlGaN layer (VG = 0, VDS = 50 shows a peak in the electric eld at the drain side of the gate. This device would not be able to support 50 Volts, since the electric eld is simulated to be above 10 MV/cm at 50 Volts drain bias. This is a direct result of the polarization charge that exists in the AlGaN layer. In the drift regions, the electric eld is low, because the 2DEG is present in those regions. V. S UMMARY The polarization charge does play a role in the surface charge densities found in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. However, the polarization charge does not act as a dopant, but only modies the eld in the barrier layer, leading to an increase in the ionization of surface states. In turn, the ionization of surface states leads to an increase in the sheet charge densities in the 2DEG. This polarization-induced eld reduces the lateral voltage han-

dling capabilities of the HFET structure. Two device structures for power switching HFETs have been proposed and simulated, a normally-off recessed gate HFET and a normally-off recessed gate MOSHFET. The simulations consider both polarization charge as well as ionized surface states. These recessed gate devices provide a reduced series resistance compared to planar normally-off HFETs. Similar to planar HFETs, these structures suffer from less than ideal breakdown voltages due to the effect of polarization charges. VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank Ken Chu for helpful discussions on design tradeoffs of high-frequency AlGaN/GaN HFETs. R EFERENCES
[1] [2] F. Bernardini, V. Fiorentini, D. Vanderbilt, Spontaneous polarization and piezoelecctric constatns of III-V nitrides, Phys. Rev. B 56, p 10024-7. M.A. Khan, J.W. Yang, W. Knap, E. Frayssinet, X. Hu, G. Simin, P. Prystawko, M. Leszczynski, I. Grzegory, S. Porowski, R. Gaska, M.S. Shur, B. Beaumont, M. Teisseire, G. Neu, GaN-AlGaN heterostructure eld-effect transistors over bulk GaN substrates, Appl. Phys. Letters 76, p. 3807-9. M.S. Shur, A.D. Bykhovski, R. Gaska, M.A. Khan, GaN-base Pyroelectronics and Piezeoelectronics - in press. E.T. Yu, X.Z. Dang. P.M. Asbeck, S.S. Lau, G.J. Sullivan, Spontaneous

[3] [4]

SEMICONDUCTOR POWER DEVICES PROJECT - K. MATOCHA

[5]

[6] [7]

and piezoelectric polarization effects in III-V nitride heterostructures, J. Vac. Sci. Tech. B 17, p. 1742-9. J.P. Ibbetson, P.T. Fini, K.D. Ness, S.P. DenBaars, J.S. Speck, U.K. Mishra, Polarization effects, surface states, and the source of electrons in AlGaN/GaN heterostructure eld effect transistors, Appl. Phys. Letters 77, p. 250-3. M.A. Khan, X. Hu, A. Tarakji, G. Simin, J. Yang, R. Gaska, M.S. Shur, AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor heterostructure eld-effect transistors on SiC substrates, Appl. Phys. Letters 77, p. 1339-41. M.A. Khan, Q. Chen, C.J. Sun, J.W. Yang, M. Blasingame, M.S. Shure, H. Park, Enhancement and depletion mode GaN/AlGaN heterostructure eld effect transistors, Appl. Phys. Letters 68, p 514-6.