Temperature and time dependent electron trapping in Al2O3 thin films onto AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

[Display omitted] •Capacitance transient measurements are employed to probe the trapping states of Al2O3/AlGaN interface.•Temperature dependent measurements revealed two competitive trapping and detrapping mechanisms in the Al2O3.•Photoluminescence revealed the presence of point defects associated to oxygen vacancies in the Al2O3. In this article, the charge trapping phenomena in Al2O3 thin films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures have been studied by time-dependent capacitance–voltage (C-V) measurements as a function of temperature. In particular, monitoring the transient of the capacitance enabled us to estimate the maximum depth of the insulating layer interested by the negative charge trapping effect under our bias stress conditions and to determine a charge traps density in the bulk Al2O3 in the order of 3 × 1019 cm−3. A temperature dependent C-V analysis up to 150 °C demonstrated the presence of two competitive mechanisms that rule the electron capture and emission in the Al2O3 film, characterized by activations energies of 22 and 88 meV respectively. Photoluminescence analyses revealed the presence of oxygen-related point defects in the insulator with a concentration in the order of ∼1020 cm−3 envisaging that only a fraction of them is electrically active. The results are useful to establish the thermal stability of the trapping phenomena, and the possible application in real devices.