In this study, we investigate the effects of Ga N cap layer thickness on the two-dimensional electron gas（2DEG）electron density and 2DEG electron mobility of Al N/Ga N heterostructures by using the temperature-dependent Hall measurement and theoretical fitting method. The results of our analysis clearly indicate that the Ga N cap layer thickness of an Al N/Ga N heterostructure has influences on the 2DEG electron density and the electron mobility. For the Al N/Ga N heterostructures with a 3-nm Al N barrier layer, the optimized thickness of the Ga N cap layer is around 4 nm and the strained a-axis lattice constant of the Al N barrier layer is less than that of Ga N.
Using the measured capacitance–voltage and current–voltage characteristics of the rectangular AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors（HFETs） with the side-Ohmic contacts, it was found that the polarization Coulomb field scattering in the AlN/GaN HFETs was greatly weakened after the side-Ohmic contact processing, however, it still could not be ignored. It was also found that, with side-Ohmic contacts, the polarization Coulomb field scattering was much stronger in AlN/GaN HFETs than in Al GaN/AlN/GaN and In0：17Al0：83N/AlN/GaN HFETs, which was attributed to the extremely thinner barrier layer and the stronger polarization of the AlN/GaN heterostructure.
We simulate the current-voltage （I-V） characteristics of AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） with different gate lengths using the quasi-two-dimensional （quasi-2D） model. The calculation results obtained using the modified mobility model are found to accord well with the experimental data. By analyzing the variation of the electron mobility for the two-dimensional electron gas （213EG） with the electric field in the linear region of the AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFET I-V output characteristics, it is found that the polarization Coulomb field scattering still plays an important role in the electron mobility of AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFETs at the higher drain voltage and channel electric field. As drain voltage and channel electric field increase, the 2DEG density reduces and the polarization Coulomb field scattering increases, as a result, the 2DEG electron mobility decreases.
Using the measured capacitance-voltage curves ofNi/Au Schottky contacts with different areas and the current-voltage characteristics for the A1GaAs/GaAs, A1GaN/A1N/GaN and InoAsA10.szN/A1N/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） at low drain-source voltage, the two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） electron mobility for the prepared HFETs was calculated and analyzed. It was found that there is an obvious difference for the variation trend of the mobility curves between the Ⅲ-V nitride HFETs and the A1GaAs/GaAs HFETs. In the III-V nitride HFETs, the variation trend for the curves of the 2DEG electron mobility with the gate bias is closely related to the ratio of the gate length to the drainto-source distance. While the ratio of the gate length to the drainto-source distance has no effect on the variation trend for the curves of the 2DEG electron mobility with the gate bias in the A1GaAs/GaAs HFETs. The reason is attributed to the polarization Coulomb field scattering in the Ⅲ-V nitride HFETs.
The parasitic source resistance（RS） of AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors（HFETs） is studied in the temperature range 300–500 K. By using the measured RSand both capacitance–voltage（C–V） and current–voltage（I–V） characteristics for the fabricated device at 300, 350, 400, 450, and 500 K, it is found that the polarization Coulomb field（PCF） scattering exhibits a significant impact on RSat the above-mentioned different temperatures. Furthermore, in the AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFETs, the interaction between the additional positive polarization charges underneath the gate contact and the additional negative polarization charges near the source Ohmic contact, which is related to the PCF scattering, is verified during the variable-temperature study of RS.
An Ni Schottky contact on the A1GaN/GaN heterostructure is fabricated. The flat-band voltage for the Schottky contact on the A1GaN/GaN heterostructure is obtained from the forward current-voltage characteristics. With the measured capacitance-voltage curve and the flat-band voltage, the polarization charge density in the A1GaN/GaN heterostructure is investigated, and a simple formula for calculating the polarization charge density is obtained and analyzed. With the approach described in this paper, the obtained polarization charge density agrees well with the one calculated by self-consistently solving Schrodinger＇s and Poisson＇s equations.
Based on the measured capacitance–voltage（C–V） curves and current–voltage（I–V） curves for the prepared differently-sized AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors（HFETs）, the I–V characteristics of the AlN/GaN HFETs were simulated using the quasi-two-dimensional（quasi-2D） model. By analyzing the variation in the electron mobility for the two-dimensional electron gas（2DEG） with the channel electric field, it is found that the different polarization charge distribution generated by the different channel electric field distribution can result in different polarization Coulomb field（PCF） scattering. The 2DEG electron mobility difference is mostly caused by the PCF scattering which can reach up to 899.6 cm^2/（V·s）（sample a）, 1307.4 cm^2/（V·s）（sample b）,1561.7 cm^2/（V s）（sample c） and 678.1 cm^2/（V·s）（sample d）, respectively. When the 2DEG sheet density is modulated by the drain–source bias, the electron mobility for samples a, b and c appear to peak with the variation of the 2DEG sheet density, but for sample d, no peak appears and the electron mobility rises with the increase in the2 DEG sheet density.
Rectangular Schottky drain AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） with different gate contact areas and conventional AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFETs as control were both fabricated with same size. It was found there is a significant difference between Schottky drain AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFETs and the control group both in drain series resistance and in two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） electron mobility in the gate–drain channel. We attribute this to the different influence of Ohmic drain contacts and Schottky drain contacts on the strained AlGaN barrier layer. For conventional AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFETs, annealing drain Ohmic contacts gives rise to a strain variation in the AlGaN barrier layer between the gate contacts and the drain contacts, and results in strong polarization Coulomb field scattering in this region. In Schottky drain AlGaN/AlN/GaN HFETs, the strain in the AlGaN barrier layer is distributed more regularly.
A simple and effective approach to improve the switching characteristics of AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors （HFETs） by applying a voltage bias on the substrate is presented. With the increase of the substrate bias, the OFF-state drain current is much reduced and the ON-state current keeps constant. Both the ON/OFF current ratio and the subthreshold swing are demonstrated to be greatly improved. With the thinned substrate, the improvement of the switching characteristics with the substrate bias is found to be even greater. The above improvements of the switching characteristics are attributed to the interaction between the substrate bias induced electrical field and the bulk traps in the GaN buffer layer, which reduces the conductivity of the GaN buffer layer.
By making use of the quasi-two-dimensional （quasi-2D） model, the current-voltage （l-V） characteristics of In0AsA10.82N/A1N/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） with different gate lengths are simulated based on the measured capacitance-voltage （C-V） characteristics and I-V characteristics. By analyzing the variation of the electron mobility for the two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） with electric field, it is found that the different polarization charge distributions generated by the different channel electric field distributions can result in different polarization Coulomb field scatterings. The difference between the electron mobilities primarily caused by the polarization Coulomb field scatterings can reach up to 1522.9 cm2/V.s for the prepared In0.38AI0.82N/A1N/GaN HFETs. In addition, when the 2DEG sheet density is modulated by the drain-source bias, the electron mobility presents a peak with the variation of the 2DEG sheet density, the gate length is smaller, and the 2DEG sheet density corresponding to the peak point is higher.
