Investigation of device transport characteristics enhancement of In0.53Ga0.47As MOSFET through in situ NH3/N2 remote-plasma treatment

• Published in: AIP advances 2021-01, Vol.11 (1), p.015050-015050-8
• Main Authors: Huang, P., Luc, Q. H., Sibaja-Hernandez, A., Hsu, C. W., Wu, J. Y., Ko, H. L., Tran, N. A., Collaert, N., Chang, E. Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminum oxide; Ammonia; Field effect transistors; Indium gallium arsenides; Metal oxide semiconductors; MOSFETs; Nitrogen plasma; Semiconductor devices; Transconductance; Transport properties
• ISSN: 2158-3226; 2158-3226
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0037378

In this work, we demonstrated considerable enhancement of the transport characteristics of n-type Al2O3/In0.53Ga0.47As metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (n-MOSFETs) with the assistance of in situ NH3/N2 remote-plasma (RP) treatment. According to the measurement and simulation results, the RP treated sample shows superior device performances as compared to the control sample without plasma treatment including (a) improved on-current (Ion) from 8.5 mA/mm to 17 mA/mm, (b) improved transconductance (Gm) from 16.05 mS/mm to 28.52 mS/mm, (c) suppressed subthreshold swing from 189 mV/dec to 170 mV/dec, (d) suppressed drain induced barrier lowering from 36 mV/V to 28 mV/V, (e) intensified peak effective mobility (μeff) from 1896 cm2 V−1 s−1 to 2956 cm2 V−1 s−1, and (f) reduced acceptor-type density of interface trap state (Dit,A) to 44%. By using TCAD simulation, device output performance is found to be dramatically impacted by the trap state (especially acceptor-type) at the Al2O3/InGaAs interface.