Characterization of Hot-Electron Effects on Flicker Noise in III-V Nitride Based Heterojunctions

• Published in: MRS Internet journal of nitride semiconductor research 1999, Vol.4 (S1), p.560-564
• Main Authors: Ho, W.Y., Fong, W.K., Surya, Charles, Tong, K.Y., Lu, L.W., Ge, W.K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1092-5783; 1092-5783
• DOI: 10.1557/S1092578300003045

We report experiments on hot-electron stressing in commercial III-V nitride based heterojunction light-emitting diodes. Stressing currents ranging from 100 mA to 200 mA were used. Degradations in the device properties were investigated through detailed studies of the I-V characteristics, electroluminescence, Deep-Level Transient Fourier Spectroscopy and flicker noise. Our experimental data demonstrated significant distortions in the I-V characteristics. The room temperature electroluminescence of the devices exhibited 25% decrement in the peak emission intensity. Concentration of the deep-levels was examined by measuring the Deep-Level Transient Fourier Spectroscopy, which indicated an increase in the density of deep-traps from 2.7 × 10 13 cm −3 to 4.21 × 10 13 cm −3 at E 1 = E C − 1.1eV. The result is consistent with our study of 1/f noise, which exhibited up to three orders of magnitude increase in the voltage noise power spectra. Our experiments show large increase in both the interface traps and deep-levels resulted from hot-carrier stressing.