AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor with Al2O3+BCB passivation

In this paper, A12O3 ultrathin film used as the surface passivation layer for Al Ga N/Ga N high electron mobility transistor(HEMT) is deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition(ALD), thereby avoiding plasma-induced damage and erosion to the surface. A comparison is made between the surface passivation in this paper and the conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) Si N passivation. A remarkable reduction of the gate leakage current and a significant increase in small signal radio frequency(RF) performance are achieved after applying Al2O3+BCB passivation.For the Al2O3+BCB passivated device with a 0.7 μm gate, the value of f max reaches up to 100 GHz, but it decreases to 40 GHz for Si N HEMT. The f max/ f t ratio(≥ 4) is also improved after Al2O3+BCB passivation. The capacitance–voltage(C–V) measurement demonstrates that Al2O3+BCB HEMT shows quite less density of trap states(on the order of magnitude of 1010cm-2) than that obtained at commonly studied Si N HEMT.