Various Recipes of SiN_x Passivated AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors in Correlation with Current Slump

The current slump of different recipes of SiNx passivated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) is investigated. The dc and pulsed current-voltage curves of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs using different recipes are analyzed. It is found that passivation leakage has a strong relationship with NH3 flow in the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor phase deposition process,
which has impacted on the current collapse of SiNx passivated devices. We analyze the pulsed IDS-VDS characteristics of different recipes of SiNx passivation devices for different combinations of gate and drain quiescent biases (VGS0, VDS0) of (0, 0), (-6, 0), (-6, 15) and (0, 15)V. The possible mechanisms are the traps in SiNx passivation capturing the electrons and the surface states at the SiNx/AlGaN interface, which can affect the channel of two-dimensional electron gas and cause the current collapse.