Title :
GaN-ON-Si Failure Mechanisms and Reliability Improvements
Author :
Singhal, S. ; Roberts, J.C. ; Rajagopal, P. ; Li, T. ; Hanson, A.W. ; Therrien, R. ; Johnson, J.W. ; Kizilyalli, I.C. ; Linthicum, K.J.
Author_Institution :
Nitronex Corp., Raleigh, NC
Abstract :
The degradation of 36mm AlGaN/GaN HFETs-on-Si under DC stress conditions has been studied on a large number of nominally identical devices that were chosen randomly across a production process. A common and primary degradation phenomenon was observed in the devices. A combination of electrical and physical analysis was used to identify a possible failure mechanism related to the Ni/Au Schottky gate diode that appears to explain the degradation of the FET. Based on the analysis, a gate anneal step was added into the fabrication process of AlGaN/GaN HFETs-on-Si. Nominal devices processed using a gate anneal showed (a) a modified gate metal-semiconductor interface (b) forward diode characteristics that are unchanged upon stress and (c) improvement in overall reliability relative to control devices
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; failure analysis; gallium compounds; high electron mobility transistors; semiconductor device reliability; wide band gap semiconductors; AlGaN-GaN; GaN-on-Si failure mechanisms; HFETs-on-Si; RF power transistors; Si; failure analysis; forward diode characteristics; gate anneal step; high electron mobility transistors; modified gate metal-semiconductor interface; reliability improvements; Aluminum gallium nitride; Annealing; Degradation; Failure analysis; Gallium nitride; HEMTs; MODFETs; Production; Schottky diodes; Stress; AlGaN/GaN HFETs; GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs); RF power transistors; failure analysis; reliability;
Conference_Titel :
Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings, 2006. 44th Annual., IEEE International
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-9498-4
Electronic_ISBN :
0-7803-9499-2
DOI :
10.1109/RELPHY.2006.251197
