Implications of gate-edge electric field in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors during OFF-state degradation

•We characterize the gate edge electric field in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.•The field lowers at the generated failure sites upon off-state stress.•The areas without stress-induced defects are not affected during the degradation.•Electroluminescence can be used as a prescreening tool for device early failures. Gate degradation in high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) under OFF-state stress results from the high electric field near the gate edge. We investigate the evolution of this field over time in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs upon OFF-state stress using a combination of electroluminescence (EL) microscopy and spectroscopy. EL analysis suggests that the electric field at the sites of generated surface defects is lowered after the stress, with greater lowering at higher stress temperature. The ON-state EL spectrum remains unchanged after the stress, suggesting that the regions without generated defects are not affected during the degradation. A finite element model is employed to further demonstrate the effect of surface defects on the local electric field. A correlation is observed for the spatial distribution of the EL intensity before and after the generation of leakage sites, which provides a prescreening method to predict possible early failures on a device.