5-MeV Proton-irradiation characteristics of AlGaN/GaN –on-Si HEMTs with various Schottky metal gates

Abstract

5 MeV proton-irradiation with total dose of 1015 /cm2 was performed on AlGaN/GaN-on-Si high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with various gate metals including Ni, TaN, W, and TiN to investigate the degradation characteristics. The positive shift of pinch-off voltage and the reduction of on-current were observed from irradiated HEMTs regardless of a type of gate materials. Hall and transmission line measurements revealed the reduction of carrier mobility and sheet charge concentration due to displacement damage by proton irradiation. The shift of pinch-off voltage was dependent on Schottky barrier heights of gate metals. Gate leakage and capacitance-voltage characteristics did not show any significant degradation demonstrating the superior radiation hardness of Schottky gate contacts on GaN.