GaN-HEMT on Si as a Robust Visible-blind UV detector with High Responsivity

• Published in: IEEE sensors journal 2022-06, Vol.22 (12), p.1-1
• Main Authors: Varghese, Arathy, Eblabla, Abdalla, Wu, Zehao, Ghozati, Seyed Urman, Elgaid, Khaled
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AlGaN/GaN HEMT; Aluminum gallium nitride; Design optimization; Detectors; Electric fields; Electron gas; Energy bands; Gallium nitrides; HEMTs; High electron mobility transistors; Lighting; Logic gates; MODFETs; Performance evaluation; photodetector; Semiconductor devices; sensitivity; Sensitivity enhancement; sensor; Sensors; Silicon substrates; Two dimensional analysis; Ultraviolet detectors; Ultraviolet radiation; UV detection; Wide band gap semiconductors
• ISSN: 1530-437X; 1558-1748
• DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2022.3170653

This work presents performance evaluation of GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) based ultraviolet (UV) detector on Si substrate. In addition to the fabrication and characterization, a systematic study is presented here using simulations extensively to investigate the UV detection mechanism. Output current has been chosen as the sensing metric, the fabricated device exhibits a high UV responsivity of 1.62 x 107 A/W at 2.5 x 10-10 W, VGS=0.5 V. Simulations have been done using optical modules available in Silvaco ATLAS TCAD to analyze the energy band bending, Two-Dimensional Electron Gas (2DEG), channel potentials and electric fields in the device. This model can aid in systematic study of HEMT based detectors in terms of dimensional and epi layer design optimizations for sensitivity enhancements. The UV response of the device is found to decrease as the wavelength approaches the visible light wavelength. This makes the photodetectors blind to visible light ensuring selective detection of UV wavelengths. It has been observed that as the area for UV absorption is increased by increasing the W/L ratio, the increases. For a W/L ratio of 100, the detector exhibits a responsivity of 1.86 x 107 A/W.