Degradation mechanisms of GaN high electron mobility transistors

In spite of their extraordinary performance, GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) have still limited reliability. In RF power applications, GaN HEMTs operate at high voltage where good reliability is essential. However, physical understanding of the fundamental reliability mechanisms of GaN HEMTs is still lacking today. In this thesis, we carry out systematic reliability experiments on industrial GaN HEMTs provided by our collaborators, TriQuint Semiconductor and BAE systems. In our study, GaN HEMTs have been electrically stressed at various bias conditions while they are being characterized by a benign characterization suite. We have confirmed that electrical stress on devices results in an increase in drain resistance RD and a decrease in maximum drain current IDmax. During the stress, traps are found to be generated. We have seen that this degradation is driven mostly by electric field, and current is less relevant to electrical degradation.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Joh, Jungwoo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jesús A. del Alamo.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38670

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38670