Slow Detrapping Transients due to Gate and Drain Bias Stress in High Breakdown Voltage AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Charge trapping and slow (from 10 s to > 1000 s) detrapping in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) designed for high breakdown voltages (> 1500 V) is studied through a combination of electrical, thermal, and optical methods to identify the impact of Al molefraction and passivation on trapping. Trapping due to 5-10 V drain bias stress in the ON-state (V-gs = 0) is found to have significantly slower recovery, compared with trapping in the OFF-state (V-gs < V-th, V-ds = 0). Two different trapping components, i.e., TG1 (E-a = 0.6 eV) and TG2 (with negligible temperature dependence), in AlGaN dominate under gate bias stress in the OFF-state. Al0.15Ga0.85N shows much more vulnerability to trapping under gate stress in the absence of passivation than does AlGaN with a higher Al mole fraction. Under large drain bias, trapping is dominated by a much deeper trap TD. Detrapping under monochromatic light shows TD to have E-a approximate to 1.65 eV. Carbon doping in the buffer is shown to introduce threshold voltage shifts, unlike any of the other traps.