Reverse gate leakage mechanism of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with Au-free gate

Abstract

The reverse gate leakage mechanism of W-gate and TiN-gate AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with N2 plasma surface treatment is investigated using current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics and theoretical calculation analysis. It is found that the main reverse gate leakage mechanism of both devices is the trap-assisted tunneling (TAT) mechanism in the entire reverse bias region (–30 V to 0 V). It is also found that the reverse gate leakage current of the W-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is smaller than that of the TiN gate at high reverse gate bias voltage. Moreover, the activation energies of the extracted W-gate and TiN-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs are 0.0551 eV–0.127 eV and 0.112 eV–0.201 eV, respectively.