Improvement of Impact Ionization Effect and Subthreshold Current in InAlAs/InGaAs Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Metamorphic HEMT With a Liquid-Phase Oxidized InAlAs as Gate Insulator

Author

Lee, Kuan-Wei ; Lee, Kai-Lin ; Lin, Xian-Zheng ; Tu, Chao-Hsien ; Wang, Yeong-Her

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Nat. Cheng Kung Univ., Tainan

Volume

54

Issue

3

fYear

2007

fDate

3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

418

Lastpage

424

Abstract

The oxidation of InAlAs and its application to InAlAs/InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor metamorphic high-electron mobility transistors (MOS-MHEMTs) are demonstrated in this study. After the highly selective gate recessing of InGaAs/InAlAs using citric buffer etchant, the gate dielectric is obtained directly by oxidizing the InAlAs layer in a liquid-phase solution at near room temperature. As compared to its counterpart MHEMT, the fabricated InAlAs/InGaAs MOS-MHEMT exhibits a larger tolerance to gate bias, higher breakdown voltage, lower subthreshold current, improved gate leakage current with the effectively suppressed impact ionization effect, and improved radio-frequency performance. Consequently, the liquid-phase oxidation may also be used to produce gate oxides and as an effective passivation on III-V compound semiconductor devices

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MIS devices; dielectric materials; gallium arsenide; high electron mobility transistors; impact ionisation; indium compounds; leakage currents; oxidation; semiconductor device breakdown; III-V compound semiconductor devices; InAlAs layer; InAlAs-InGaAs; InAlAs/InGaAs MOS-MHEMT; InAlAs/InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor metamorphic HEMT; breakdown voltage; citric buffer etchant; gate dielectric; gate insulator; gate leakage current; impact ionization effect; liquid-phase oxidation; liquid-phase solution; metal-oxide-semiconductor metamorphic high-electron mobility transistors; subthreshold current; Dielectric liquids; Dielectrics and electrical insulation; HEMTs; Impact ionization; Indium compounds; Indium gallium arsenide; Metal-insulator structures; Oxidation; Subthreshold current; mHEMTs; Gate dielectric; high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT); liquid-phase oxidation; metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS); metamorphic;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2006.890599

Filename

4114845