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Cap layer Engineering: Performance Evaluation of E-Mode InGaN/AlGaN/GaN

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Conference Paper · February 2015

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3669.3280

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 Cap layer Engineering: Performance Evaluation of E-Mode
InGaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMT

Shubhankar Majumdar, Palash Das Dhrubes Biswas

Advanced Technology Development Centre Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Kharagpur, India Kharagpur, India
shubhankar.majumdar@atdc.iitkgp.ernet.in dhrubes@gmail.com

Abstract— Increment in Indium molar fraction in InGaN cap Semiconductor HEMT structure [7]. Among these normally-off
layer leads to increase in negative piezoelectric polarization AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with InGaN cap layer is the issues of
charge, which creates a downward polarization charge, further interest because this type of E-mode HEMT are epitaxial
results in an increase in depletion layer thickness, whereas, growth dependent.
thickness of InGaN cap layer increases which results in reduction
of gate controllability over the channel. Therefore, the effects of
The device works as a thin InGaN cap layer introduces a
heterostructure parameter i.e. molar fraction and thickness polarization field, which raises the conduction band of the
variation of InGaN cap layer of InGaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMT on
its DC characteristics i.e. threshold voltage, subthreshold swing
and maximum transconductance has been examined in the paper.
Growth of InGaN over AlGaN with high Indium molar fraction
cannot be done because roughness increases and critical
thickness decreases. Thus, for simulation purpose, percentage
variation in Indium molar fraction and InGaN cap layer
thickness is taken as 5-20% and 4-7nm, respectively. In addition
to this, optimized barrier layer thickness and Aluminium molar
fraction is taken as 15nm and 25%. Hence, variation of threshold
voltage, subthreshold swing and maximum transconductance due
to change in heterostructure parameter of InGaN cap layer are
reported as 1-0.7V, 135-80mV/dec and 400-360 mS/mm2,
respectively.

Index Terms— Enhancement mode GaN HEMT, threshold Fig. 1. The Raising of Conduction band due to negative polarization
voltage, transconductance, leakage, 2DEG, Modeling. introduced by InGaN cap layer.

I. INTRODUCTION AlGaN/GaN interface which can be seen in fig. 1. As a result,

the threshold voltage is shifts in a positive direction. The
Variation in heterostructure parameters directly impact on device structure which has been simulated is as follows: i-
current of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). A viable InyGa1-yN/ n- Al0.25Ga0.75N (6x1018 cm−3, 15 nm)/i-GaN (3 μm)
condition for this statement is: the process parameters should / silicon substrate. In fig. 1 shows the raising of conduction
be fixed. Molar fraction influence on the depletion width and band due to negative polarization introduced by InGaN cap
dielectric which further influencing on the capacitance and layer. It has been analysed that by varying the molar fraction
hence it is affecting the total current flowing in the channel. negative polarization varies which further impacts on DC
The maximum transconductance (Gmmax) depends on the characteristics, which is addressed in this paper.
amount of current flow and the subthreshold leakage depends
on the stored charge present due to the depletion width. So, II. MODEL DESCRIPTION AND FORMULATION
molar fraction variation influence to change in depletion layer Model formulation is prepared to represent the effect of
which simultaneously effect threshold voltage (Vth), Gmmax and heterostructure parameter variation on Vth, Gmmax and leakage.
subthreshold swing. On the other hand, thickness variation The polarization based equations used here are given in papers
reduces the gate controllability over the channel, which further [8]–[10]. From the literature survey, it can be concluded that
effects on Vth, Gmmax and subthreshold swing. the rise in indium (In) molar fraction leads to increase a
There are several techniques to achieve the normally-off negative piezoelectric polarization charge, which creates a
operation of the AlGaN/GaN HFETs have been reported, such downward polarization charge, further results in an increase of
as using gate-recess etching of the barrier layer [1], exposing depletion layer thickness. Depletion layer modulation effects
the device to a fluoride-based plasma treatment [2], a p-type on the amount of current flow and concentration of stored
GaN [3], a p-type AlGaN (Gate injection Technology) [4], charges, this further effect on the Vth, Gmmax and subthreshold
InGaN cap layer [5], ultrathin barrier [6], and Metal–Insulator– swing. Thus, by utilizing this factor the model is formulated

1st National Conference on Device and Circuits, ISBN : 978-93-82208-75-4. 20th – 21st February, 2015
 Cap layer Engineering: Performance Evaluation of E-Mode InGaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMT

which shows the effects of variation of heterostructure  AlGaN  8.9  1.9x  0 (12)
parameter on DC characteristics of E-mode InGaN/AlGaN/  InGaN  10 .4  4.9 y  0 (13)
GaN HEMT. The model is formulated as follows:
The piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization charge for Thus, molar fraction variation is effecting on band offset
InGaN/AlGaN and AlGaN/GaN interface is given as which further have an impact on threshold voltage. It can be
calculated from the eqn.14.
sp
PAl  xPAlN
sp
 (1  x )PGaN
sp
x Ga 1 x N (1) ECInGaN ECAlGaN EFO
VTH  B     Vp (14)
sp
PIn Ga  yPInN
sp
 (1  y)PGaN
sp
q q q
y 1 y N
(2)
 a In Ga  a Al Ga 
Where,  B = barrier height between InGaN cap layer and
 y 1 yN x 1 x N   C13  
P
pe
 2  e31   e  (3) metal, E FO = change in Fermi level.
In y Ga1  y N  33 
 a Alx Ga1  x N   C 33  
  InGaN The effective capacitance from gate to the channel is therefore
shown as:
 a Alx Ga 1  x N  a GaN    
P
pe
 2  e31   C13 e33  (4)   AlGaN   InGaN 
Alx Ga 1  x N 
 a GaN 

C 
 33 

 AlGaN  



 d AlGaN  d InGaN 
C eff  (15)
 P pe    AlGaN    InGaN 
 Alx Ga 1 x N  PGaN  PAlx Ga 1 x N 
sp sp
 
 


QGaN
AlGaN     d AlGaN   d InGaN 
q
  (5) The 2DEG channel is formed between AlGaN/GaN interface
 P pe pe sp sp  so, effective mobility of electron in 2DEG will depend on the
 In y Ga 1 y N  PAlx Ga 1 x N  PAlx Ga 1 x N  PIn y Ga 1 y N  (6)
Q AlGaN
InGaN    effective mass of AlGaN and GaN which can be shown as:
 q 
 eff   GaN *
  m
 m AlGaN  GaN (16)
The model to calculate doping induced charges of doped
AlGaN barrier layer is shown as follows: Therefore, the effect of molar fraction and thickness variation,
The voltage required to deplete the entire AlGaN layer is on dielectric, mobility, 2DEG and capacitance are evident.
given by: The eqn. (17) shows the relation of these parameters with
 qN dAlGaN  2
drain current.
Vp   d AlGaN

(7)  
 2 AlGaN      2 

ID  
1  
* 
Z
C  V V
eff VDL   eff L eff  g
V
TH D 
VD
2

 
  1    
Q doping   AlGaN Vp (8)  s 
 AlGaN 
d  
Thus, the total charge between AlGaN and GaN interface is ……….(17)
shown as: Where,  s = saturation velocity of electrons, which depends
Qtotal  QGaN AlGaN
AlGaN  Qdoping  QInGaN
(9) on mobility and electric field.
Therefore, the two dimensional gas (2DEG) is calculated by Therefore, transconductance is further be calculated by the
help of this equation.
n 2 deg  Q total q
 dI 
Assume, conduction bandgap discontinuity is 70% between G m max  max D  (18)
AlGaN and GaN, thus the effect of molar fraction on the band-  dVG VD constan t
gap offset is as follows:
E c  0.7 * E g
Model formulation shows the effect of molar fraction and
Where, E g AlGaN ( x )  xE g AlN  (1  x )E g GaN  bx (1  x ) (10) thickness is evident for change in Gmmax, Vth and leakage if
E g  E g AlGaN ( x )  E g GaN , b  1eV process parameters are fixed.
Molar fraction dependent band-gap offset is calculated by III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
assuming, the conduction bandgap discontinuity is 80%
The molar fraction of Al is 25% and In is varied from (5-
between InGaN and AlGaN,
20%). The thickness of the AlGaN barrier layer is 15nm and
E c  0.8 * E g
InGaN varies from (4-7nm).
Where, E g InGaN ( y)  xE g InN  (1  y)E g GaN  by(1  y) (11)
Table.1 depicts the molar fraction variation effects on
b  1.43eV, E g  E g InGaN ( y)  E g GaN heterostructure parameters i.e. lattice constant, inplane strain,
polarization charge, dielectic constant and bandgap, these
The dielectric constant of AlGaN and InGaN is dependent on
parameter further influences on Vth, Gmmax and leakage which
the molar fraction, which is represented as:
have shown in fig. 2 for an optimized thickness of cap layer as

1st National Conference on Device and Circuits, ISBN : 978-93-82208-75-4. 20th – 21st February, 2015
 Cap layer Engineering: Performance Evaluation of E-Mode InGaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMT

4nm. Fig. 3 shows the variation of Vth, Gmmax and subthreshold another case is, thickness of cap layer, as thickness increases
swing for change in thickness for an optimized molar fraction the gate controllability over channel reduces, which results in
of the cap layer as 20%. The model formulation shows a way the creation of 2DEG due to heterostructure, without applying
to correlate the heterostructure parameters with the DC any gate potential. The variation can be seen in fig.3.
characteristics. Table.2 shows the combined effects of molar
fraction and thickness variation on the effective capacitance
value which further influence on the current and hence on
Gmmax.

Fig. 3. The variation in Vth, Gm max and sub-threshold swing with of cap layer
thickness at optimized molar fraction (20%).

Further, there is a tradeoff between thickness and G m max. As

it can be seen from fig.3 that, as the thickness increases from
4nm to 6nm, the Gm max increases, and then saturate for further
increase in thickness. This is due to two things one is gate
controllability and another is the amount of 2DEG first
increases, then start saturating after an optimum value of
thickness. Due to this reason only Gm max first increase and
then saturates with thickness. As, the In molar fraction
increases the depletion width increases, thus, the current value
decreases, which results in the reduction of Gm max.
Sub-threshold swing is the parameter by which leakage in a
device at off-condition is determined. The unit of sub-threshold
voltage is mV/dec. The GaN HEMT is having the poor sub-
threshold swing value due to its material properties. So, while
simulation a special care has been taken on the material
properties of GaN. As the In molar fraction increases depletion
width increases, which results in higher accumulation of
charge. Hence, from the model only, it can be seen that the
accumulation of charge between AlGaN/GaN surface due to
negative polarization of InGaN layer, which plays a major role
in the increment of leakage, with the increase of molar fraction.
An increase in thickness reduces the gate controllability over
Fig. 2. The variation in Vth, Gm max and sub-threshold swing with molar fraction channel and thus, causes leakage from source to drain side.
of cap layer in optimized thickness (4nm).
TABLE I. EFFECTS OF INDIUM MOLAR FRACTION VARIATION
Increment in In molar fraction leads to increase in negative Indium Molar Fraction Variation
polarization charge, that further increases the depletion width, Parameters
X=0.05 X=0.1 X=0.15 X=0.2
and break the electron channel path from source to drain. For Lattice
this reason, the Vth goes up with the increase of In molar 3.2097e-10 3.2295e-10 3.2492e-10 3.2690e-10
Constant
fraction. The fig.2 shows the effect of molar fraction. Here's

1st National Conference on Device and Circuits, ISBN : 978-93-82208-75-4. 20th – 21st February, 2015
 Cap layer Engineering: Performance Evaluation of E-Mode InGaN/AlGaN/GaN HEMT

Indium Molar Fraction Variation work is done in Advanced VLSI design (AVLSI) lab of IIT
Parameters
X=0.05 X=0.1 X=0.15 X=0.2 Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India.
Inplane strain -0.0246 -0.0367 -0.0486 -0.0604
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Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India. This

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