Determination of subband energies and 2DEG characteristics of Al x Ga1− x N/GaN heterojunctions using variational method

A physics-based model based on the variational method for analyzing the two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) characteristics of polar AlGaN/GaN heterojunctions is developed. The 2DEG carrier concentration, the first and second energy subbands, and the position of the Fermi energy level are calculated for various barrier thicknesses, Al mole fractions, background dopant concentrations, and gate voltages for gated AlGaN/GaN heterojunctions. The results are in good agreement with the data reported based on self-consistent method. Whereas the aforementioned report has dealt with specific values of Al mole fraction, barrier thickness, and unintentional doping level, the present work provides a basis for calculating the 2DEG characteristics for the full range of these parameters. Furthermore, according to the proposed model, the applicability of the triangular approximation of the quantum well in AlGaN/GaN heterojunctions is evaluated.