Inductively coupled plasma — plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition silicon nitride for passivation of InP based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs)

Silicon nitride thin films have been deposited on InP-based structures at both room and high temperatures in an RF-inductively coupled plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ICP-PECVD) equipment. Metal insulating semiconductor (MIS) diodes have been widely investigated using either SiH4+NH3 or SiH4+N2 gas phase. I–V measurements conducted on these diodes reveal high resistivity and breakdown electric field even at low deposition temperature (50°C). Double channel (DC) High electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have been passivated by SiNx films deposited at room temperature using SiH4+NH3 precursors. Passivated devices exhibit a very low drift over a 45 h period of stress under high gate-drain electric field.