We report the realization of a revolutionary heterostructure of III-nitride materials grown on SiC substrates by a unique MOCVD method. Our success in the material growth enabled a new design of HEMT heterostructures requiring no intentional Fe- or C-doping. Excellent DC and RF performances of the highly-scaled GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) using the proposed new heterostructures are demonstrated. The new HEMT heterostructures also open up new opportunities in material growth schemes to further reduce the charge trapping effects that have been prevailing in the field over that last two decades. Consequently, a high RF output power of ~4 W/mm was obtained at a fundamental frequency of 30 GHz in the HEMT devices with a gate length (Lg) of 0.1 µm, biased at VDS= 30 volt. We also found that the thermal resistance of the new HEMT devices exhibits a substantially lower thermal resistance (RTH) of 4.1 oC mm/W, as compared with that of the conventional ones, which is typically around 9~10 oC mm/W [2] The details of the new heterostructures and device characteristics will be presented. Our breakthrough in the material growth has brought the GaN HEMT technology to a new height and will serve as a new route for further improvement.
IV.References
[1] J.-T. Chen et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 193506 (2013). Impact of residual carbon on two-dimensional electron gas properties in AlGaN/GaN heterostructure.
[2] J. Joh et al, IEEE Trans. Elec. Dev. 56, 2896 (2009) Measurement of Channel Temperature in GaN High-Electron Mobility Transistors.