Novel Oxide-Passivated AlGaN/GaN HEMT by Using Hydrogen Peroxide Treatment

This brief reports, for the first time, an oxide passivated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor by using the hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) treatment. Characterizations by using electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis and transmission electron microscopy have been performed to verify the formation of surface oxide on the AlGaN barrier layer. The present design has demonstrated superior improvements of 41% in the maximum drain/source current density I_DS,max; 39% in the drain/source saturation current density at zero gate bias I_DSSO, 47% in the maximum extrinsic transconductance g_m,max, 53.2% in the two-terminal gate/drain breakdown voltage BV_GD 36% in the cutoff frequency f_T, and 20% in the maximum oscillation frequency f_max, as compared with an unpassivated conventional device.