Electron density and currents of AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistors with thin GaN/AlN buffer layer

AlN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures with thin GaN/AlN buffer layer have been analyzed theoretically and experimentally, and the effects of the AlN barrier and GaN buffer layer thicknesses on two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density and transport properties have been evaluated. HEMT structures consisting of [300 nm GaN/ 200 nm AlN] buffer layer on sapphire were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and exhibited a remarkable agreement with the theoretical calculations, suggesting a negligible influence of the crystalline defects that increase near the heteroepitaxial interface. The 2DEG density varied from 6.8 × 1012 to 2.1 × 1013 cm−2 as the AlN barrier thickness increased from 2.2 to 4.5 nm, while a 4.5 nm AlN barrier would result to 3.1 × 1013 cm−2 on a GaN buffer layer. The 3.0 nm AlN barrier structure exhibited the highest 2DEG mobility of 900 cm2/Vs for a density of 1.3 × 1013 cm−2. The results were also confirmed by the performance of 1 μm gate-length transistors. The scaling of AlN barrier thickness from 1.5 nm to 4.5 nm could modify the drain-source saturation current, for zero gate-source voltage, from zero (normally off condition) to 0.63 A/mm. The maximum drain-source current was 1.1 A/mm for AlN barrier thickness of 3.0 nm and 3.7 nm, and the maximum extrinsic transconductance was 320 mS/mm for 3.0 nm AlN barrier.