Stress-related hydrogen degradation of 0.1-μm InP HEMTs and GaAs PHEMTs

Author

Blanchard, Roxann R. ; del Alamo, J.A.

Author_Institution

MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

53

Issue

6

fYear

2006

fDate

6/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1289

Lastpage

1293

Abstract

Hydrogen degradation of III-V field-effect transistors (FETs) is a serious reliability concern. Previous work has shown that threshold-voltage shifts induced by H₂ exposure in 1-μm-channel InP high-electron mobility transitors (HEMTs) can be attributed to compressive stress in the gate due to the formation of TiH_x in Ti/Pt/Au gates. The compressive stress affects the device characteristics through the piezoelectric effect. This paper examined the H₂ sensitivity of 0.1-μm strained-channel InP HEMTs and GaAs pseudomorphic HEMTs. After exposure to H₂, the threshold voltage V_T of both types of devices shifted positive. This positive shift in V_T is predicted by a model for hydrogen-induced piezoelectric effect. In situ V_T measurements reveal distinct time dependences of the V_T shifts, which are also consistent with stress-related phenomena.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; field effect transistors; gallium arsenide; gold; indium compounds; piezoelectricity; platinum; power HEMT; titanium; 0.1 micron; GaAs; H₂ sensitivity; HEMT; InP; PHEMT; Ti-Pt-Au; compressive stress; field effect transistor; piezoelectric effect; stress related phenomena; stress-related hydrogen degradation; Compressive stress; Degradation; FETs; Gallium arsenide; HEMTs; Hydrogen; Indium phosphide; MODFETs; PHEMTs; Piezoelectric effect; GaAs; InP; high-electron mobility transitor (HEMT); hydrogen; pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transitor (PHEMT); reliability;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2006.873882

Filename

1637622