Innovative nitride passivation of 0.1 μm InGaAs/InAlAs/InP HEMTs using high-density inductively coupled plasma CVD (HD-ICP-CVD)

Author

Chou, Y.C. ; Lai, R. ; Li, G.P. ; Nam, P. ; Grundbacher, R. ; Barsky, M. ; Kim, H.K. ; Ra, Y. ; Oki, A. ; Streit, D.

Author_Institution

Space & Electron. Eng. Microelectron. Products & Processes, TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

2002

Firstpage

315

Lastpage

318

Abstract

A novel nitride passivation of 0.1 μm InGaAs/InAlAs/InP HEMTs using high-density inductively coupled plasma CVD (HD-ICP-CVD) is reported. The nitride films deposited by HD-ICP-CVD have a lower wet HF etch rate (high density) and lower hydrogen concentration than those deposited by PECVD. A reduction of surface leakage current after passivation was observed; resulting in an approximate 40% improvement of off-state reverse breakdown voltage over that of PECVD passivated devices. The increase in breakdown voltage implies a potential improvement in power performance at millimeter wave frequency. A successful demonstration of HD-ICP-CVD passivated InP HEMTs promises adoption of HD-ICP-CVD nitride deposition for the next-generation InP HEMT passivation technique.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; high electron mobility transistors; indium compounds; leakage currents; millimetre wave field effect transistors; passivation; plasma CVD; semiconductor device breakdown; semiconductor device reliability; 0.1 micron; HD-ICP-CVD; HEMTs; InGaAs-InAlAs-InP; InGaAs/InAlAs/InP; high-density inductively coupled plasma CVD; millimeter wave frequency; nitride passivation; off-state reverse breakdown voltage; surface leakage current; wet HF etch rate; HEMTs; Hafnium; Indium compounds; Indium gallium arsenide; Indium phosphide; MODFETs; Passivation; Plasma applications; Plasma density; Wet etching;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Indium Phosphide and Related Materials Conference, 2002. IPRM. 14th

ISSN

1092-8669

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7320-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICIPRM.2002.1014392

Filename

1014392