Nearly temperature-independent saturation drain current in a multi-mesa-channel AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor

We fabricated a multi-mesa-channel (MMC) structure by forming a periodic trench just under a gate electrode to improve the uniformity of effective electric field in the channel in an AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). A unique performance, i.e., a nearly temperature-independent saturation drain current, was observed in the MMC device in a wide temperature range. A two-dimensional (2D) potential calculation indicates that the mesa-side gate effectively modulates the potential, resulting in a field surrounding 2D electron gas. Such a surrounding-field effect and a relatively lower source access resistance may be related to a unique current behavior in the MMC HEMT. (C) 2008 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.