Influence of silicon nitride passivation on DC and RF behaviour of InP HEMTs

Author

Vandersinissen, R. ; Schreurs, D. ; Borghs, C.

Author_Institution

MCP/NEXT/EPI, IMEC, Leuven, Belgium

fYear

2002

fDate

18-19 Nov. 2002

Firstpage

172

Lastpage

176

Abstract

In this paper, the influence of silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) passivation on the DC and RF behaviour of a delta-doped InP based HEMT is examined. For operation stability and better reliability of MMICs using HEMTs, devices must be coated with a passivating, dielectric layer. Si₃N₄ is an excellent candidate for use as a passivation layer since it can also be used as MIM capacitor dielectric for InP MMIC fabrication. After passivation, a shift in the threshold voltage of the transistor is noticed, together with an increase in transconductance. However, the passivation layer increases the parasitic capacitances and thus the RF performance of the device drops.

Keywords

HEMT integrated circuits; III-V semiconductors; MIM devices; S-parameters; circuit stability; dielectric thin films; field effect MMIC; high electron mobility transistors; impact ionisation; indium compounds; passivation; semiconductor device measurement; semiconductor device reliability; HEMT MMIC reliability; InP; MIM capacitor dielectrics; S-parameters; Si₃N₄; Si₃O₄ layers; delta-doped InP HEMT DC/RF behaviour; device RF performance; impact ionisation; operation stability; parasitic capacitances; passivating dielectric layer coatings; silicon nitride passivation; transconductance; transistor threshold voltage shift; Dielectric devices; HEMTs; Indium phosphide; MIM capacitors; MMICs; MODFETs; Passivation; Radio frequency; Silicon; Stability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices for Microwave and Optoelectronic Applications, 2002. EDMO 2002. The 10th IEEE International Symposium on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7530-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/EDMO.2002.1174950

Filename

1174950