Investigations of HfO2/AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor high electron mobility transistors

We report the studies of AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor high electron mobility transistors (MOS-HEMTs) using reactive-sputtered HfO2 as the gate dielectric and the surface passivation layer. X-ray photoemission method reveals a conduction-band offset of 1.71 eV for the HfO2/GaN heterostructure. The dielectric constant of HfO2 is estimated to be 21 by capacitance-voltage measurements. MOS-HEMTs with a 1.5-mu m-long gate exhibit a maximum drain current of 830 mA/mm and a peak transconductance of 115 mS/mm, while the gate leakage current is at least five orders of magnitude lower than that of the reference HEMTs. Good surface passivation effects of HfO2 have also been confirmed by pulsed gate measurements, with MOS-HEMTs showing a significant drain current recovery from current collapse observed in HEMTs. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.