Characterization of deep levels in high electron mobility transistor by conductance deep level transient spectroscopy

The influence of a substrate voltage on the dc characteristics of an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) on silicon (111) substrate is profited to investigate traps that are located between the substrate and the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel. The transient of the drain current after applying a negative substrate voltage is evaluated in the temperature range from 77 to 600 K. With this method, known as Conductance Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (CDLTS), majority deep levels with activation energy of 61 meV as well as minority carrier traps at 74 meV and capture cross-section respectively 2.56 × 10− 15 cm2, 2.1 × 10− 15 cm2 are identified. Finally, the correlation between the anomalies observed on the output characteristics and defects is discussed.