Effects of \hbox Plasma Pretreatment on the SiN Passivation of AlGaN/GaN HEMT

The impact of in situ low-power plasma pretreatment, prior to silicon-nitride (SiN) deposition, was investigated in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). These studies reveal that the use of plasma in HEMT passivation reduces current-collapse and gate-lag effects. Such treatment is a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE electron device letters 2008-03, Vol.29 (3), p.209-211
Main Authors: Romero, M.F., Jimenez, A., Miguel-Sanchez, J., Brana, A.F., Gonzalez-Posada, F., Cuerdo, R., Calle, F., Munoz, E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs)
Aluminum gallium nitride
current collapse
Gallium nitride
GaN MIS
Gate leakage
HEMTs
MODFETs
Passivation
Plasma density
Plasma measurements
Radio frequency
Silicon compounds
silicon nitride (SiN)
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Summary:The impact of in situ low-power plasma pretreatment, prior to silicon-nitride (SiN) deposition, was investigated in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). These studies reveal that the use of plasma in HEMT passivation reduces current-collapse and gate-lag effects. Such treatment is also beneficial to improve gate leakage, and from RF measurements, no degradation of was observed. These beneficial effects of the plasma pretreatment seem to be due to a significant reduction in interface charge density, as shown in this letter using GaN MIS devices, where a decrease of 60% was observed.
ISSN:0741-3106
1558-0563
DOI:10.1109/LED.2008.915568