Proton-Induced Dehydrogenation of Defects in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

The responses to 1.8 MeV proton irradiation of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs grown under Ga-rich and ammonia-rich conditions are investigated in this work. Changes in defect energy distributions of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs during proton irradiation are characterized via temperature-dependent low-frequency noise measurements. Density functional theory calculations show these changes are consistent with the reconfiguration and/or dehydrogenation of oxygen-related defects in Ga-rich devices.