Electrical Runaway in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs: Physical Mechanisms and Impact on Reliability

This paper deals with the deep characterization of a novel electrical parasitic effect in AlGaN/GaN technology so called "electrical runaway mechanism." It is characterized by an anomalous gate current behaviour. Electrical measurements versus temperature show that the runaway mechanism th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on electron devices 2017-04, Vol.64 (4), p.1548-1553
Main Authors: Brunel, L., Lambert, B., Carisetti, D., Malbert, Nathalie, Curutchet, A., Labat, N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
AlGaN/GaN HEMT
Aluminum gallium nitride
electrical characterization
electrical parasitic effect
Electronics
Engineering Sciences
Logic gates
optoelectrical characterization
Reliability
Temperature measurement
Transistors
Wide band gap semiconductors
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Summary:This paper deals with the deep characterization of a novel electrical parasitic effect in AlGaN/GaN technology so called "electrical runaway mechanism." It is characterized by an anomalous gate current behaviour. Electrical measurements versus temperature show that the runaway mechanism threshold is temperature independent on the contrary to the gate current progression as a function of VDS. Optoelectrical measurements show that the physical mechanism inducing the runaway mechanism occurs below the gate area. Then, reliability aging tests performed in the frame of a 0.5-μm GaN technology present the runaway mechanism as a wear out mechanism. Finally, the runaway mechanism has been associated with tunnel conduction through gate metal and AlGaN layer.
ISSN:0018-9383
1557-9646
DOI:10.1109/TED.2017.2669368