Cathodoluminescence Studies of Gamma-Irradiation Effects on AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs)

AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) are the most advanced electronic nitride devices to be used at high temperatures and in harshly radiated environments. A clear understanding of radiation effects on these devices is essential in order to predict their behavior in space and terrestrial applications including military, nuclear and high energy physics. Only a limited amount of insight exists into the behavior of III-N based junction transistor after exposure to gamma irradiation. Investigation of gamma-irradiated device properties will provide important information about the defects in semiconductor heterostructures. Therefore, it is important to understand how defects are created by gamma-rays and how they can be healed by annealing. Here we present the impact of gamma-irradiation on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures fundamental properties including carrier transport and recombination. We also report the effect of annealing at 200^o C over 25 min on gamma-irradiated samples through the Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) method.