Effect of nitrogen incorporation into Al-based gate insulator in AlGaN/GaN MOS-HEMT

Asahara, Ryohei*; Nozaki, Mikito*; Yamada, Takahiro*; Ito, Joyo*; Nakazawa, Satoshi*; Ishida, Masahiro*; Ueda, Tetsuzo*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka ; Hosoi, Takuji*; Shimura, Takayoshi*; Watanabe, Heiji*

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) gate structure has gained much attention as next-generation high frequency and high power devices. In this study, an improvement in thermal stability and interface properties of AlGaN/GaN MOS structure by using AlON gate dielectrics has been demonstrated. Synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy (SR-PES) revealed that Ga and Al atoms were diffused from AlGaN into overlying AlO layer during annealing at 800 degrees. In contrast, the spectra for AlON sample remain almost unchanged even after the annealing, indicating high thermal stability of AlON/AlGaN structure. Furthermore, the negligible hysteresis in capacitance-voltage characteristics and interface state density as low as 1.210 cmeV were obtained for AlON/AlGaN/GaN MOS capacitors.