Breakdown walkout in AlAs/GaAs HEMTs

Author

Chao, P.C. ; Shur, M. ; Kao, M.Y. ; Lee, B.R.

Author_Institution

General Electric, Syracuse, NY, USA

Volume

39

Issue

3

fYear

1992

fDate

3/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

738

Lastpage

740

Abstract

It was observed that the gate breakdown voltage of an unpassivated AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT can move to higher negative values when a current is allowed to flow through the gate under reverse gate bias voltage. When a reverse bias is applied between the gate and source, this breakdown `walkout´ can be accompanied by a permanent increase in device source resistance and decreases in transconductance and drain saturation current. A similar effect was observed in AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic HEMTs and in GaAs MESFETs. This effect was not observed in silicon nitrided passivated devices

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; electric breakdown of solids; gallium arsenide; high electron mobility transistors; AlGaAs-GaAs; AlGaAs-InGaAs-GaAs; GaAs MESFETs; breakdown walkout; device source resistance; drain saturation current; gate breakdown voltage; pseudomorphic HEMTs; reverse gate bias voltage; transconductance; unpassivated HEMT; Breakdown voltage; Electric breakdown; Gallium arsenide; HEMTs; Indium gallium arsenide; MESFETs; MODFETs; PHEMTs; Silicon; Transconductance;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.123504

Filename

123504