AlN as passivation for surface channel FETs on H-terminated diamond

Surface Channel MESFETs (SC-FET) have suffered from instabilities and drift in the past. To overcome these effects a suitable device passivation seems to be one of the key aspects. In this investigation Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of AlN has been applied to Surface Channel FETs on hydrogenated diamond. Despite a deposition temperature of 370 degrees C, where usually the FET channel is permanently degraded, transistor operation with 65% of the initial current level could be obtained. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.