Drain Field Plate Impact on the Hard-Switching Performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs
Andrea Minetto, Nicola Modolo, Luca Sayadi, Christian Koller, Clemens Ostermaier, Matteo Meneghini, Enrico Zanoni, G. Prechtl, Sébastien Sicre, Bernd Deutschmann, Oliver D. Häberlen
Abstract
In this work, an analysis of the impact of drain field plate (FP) length on the semi- ON degradation of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) is performed. A wafer-level characterization, by means of pulsed stress tests, reveals a faster and more severe decrease of the drain current in the linear region for the samples with longer drain FP. 2-D technology computer-aided design (TCAD) hydrodynamic simulations show that a time and field-dependent hot electrons (HEs) trapping takes place at the passivation/barrier interface. The higher drain current decrease in the longer FP samples can be ascribed to an enhanced HE trapping at the drain FP edge due to a different electric field distribution.