A Comparative Study on the Degradation Behaviors of Ferroelectric Gate GaN HEMT with PZT and PZT/AlO Gate Stacks.

In this paper, the degradation behaviors of the ferroelectric gate Gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) under positive gate bias stress are discussed. Devices with a gate dielectric that consists of pure Pb(Zr,Ti)O (PZT) and a composite PZT/AlO bilayer are studied. Two different mechanisms, charge trapping and generation of traps, both contribute to the degradation. We have observed positive threshold voltage shift in both kinds of devices under positive gate bias stress. In the devices with a PZT gate oxide, we have found the degradation is owing to electron trapping in pre-existing oxide traps. However, the degradation is caused by electron trapping in pre-existing oxide traps and the generation of traps for the devices with a composite PZT/AlO gate oxide. Owing to the large difference in dielectric constants between PZT and AlO, the strong electric field in the AlO interlayer makes PZT/AlO GaN HEMT easier to degrade. In addition, the ferroelectricity in PZT enhances the electric field in AlO interlayer and leads to more severe degradation. According to this study, it is worth noting that the reliability problem of the ferroelectric gate GaN HEMT may be more severe than the conventional metal-insulator-semiconductor HEMT (MIS-HEMT).