Current linearity and operation stability in Al <sub/>2</sub> O <sub/>3</sub> -gate AlGaN/GaN MOS high electron mobility transistors

摘要： To investigate current linearity and operation stability of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), we have fabricated and characterized the Al2O3-gate MOS-HEMTs without and with a bias annealing in air at 300 °C. Compared with the as-fabricated (unannealed) MOS HEMTs, the bias-annealed devices showed improved linearity of ID–VG curves even in the forward bias regime, resulting in increased maximum drain current. Lower subthreshold slope was also observed after bias annealing. From the precise capacitance–voltage analysis on a MOS diode fabricated on the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure, it was found that the bias annealing effectively reduced the state density at the Al2O3/AlGaN interface. This led to efficient modulation of the AlGaN surface potential close to the conduction band edge, resulting in good gate control of two-dimensional electron gas density even at forward bias. In addition, the bias-annealed MOS HEMT showed small threshold voltage shift after applying forward bias stress and stable operation even at high temperatures.