Electroluminescence analysis of HFET´s breakdown

Author

Gaddi, Roberto ; Meneghesso, Gaudenzio ; Pavesi, Maura ; Peroni, Marco ; Canali, Claudio ; Zanoni, Enrico

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Sci. dell´´Ingegneria, Modena Univ., Italy

Volume

20

Issue

7

fYear

1999

fDate

7/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

372

Lastpage

374

Abstract

In this letter, we correlate different breakdown mechanisms occurring near pinch-off and in off-state conditions in power AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction FETs (HFETs), operated in "three terminals" (on-state) and "two-terminals" (off-state) modes, to electroluminescence emission due to high energy carriers, electrons, and holes. In particular we will use spectral analysis and spatially resolved emission analysis in order to identify regions of the device where hot and cold carriers emit light. We will show how under "three-terminals" breakdown conditions high energy carriers emit light at the drain side of the gate while cold carriers recombine mostly at the source side of the gate.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; electroluminescence; gallium arsenide; hot carriers; junction gate field effect transistors; power field effect transistors; semiconductor device breakdown; AlGaAs-GaAs; AlGaAs/GaAs power heterojunction FET; breakdown; cold carriers; electroluminescence; hot carriers; spatially resolved emission analysis; spectral analysis; Charge carrier processes; Electric breakdown; Electroluminescence; Electron emission; FETs; Gallium arsenide; HEMTs; Heterojunctions; MODFETs; Spectral analysis;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.772380

Filename

772380