Low-frequency noise sources in III-V semiconductor heterostructures

III-V semiconductor heterostructures have widespread interest in both electrical and optical applications. Their figure-of-merit low-frequency noise level directly sets the limits of the performance of devices and indirectly serves as the indicator of material properties and device reliability. In particular, generation-recombination noise signals in the low-frequency noise range directly indicate the dominant traps that impact device operation. In this dissertation, low-frequency noise source investigations of GaAs/buffer and AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures in the applications of microwave power amplifiers will be presented.; For GaAs/buffer heterostructures, low-frequency noise characteristics of GaAs-On-Insulator metal-semiconductor field effect transistors, for which the insulating buffer layer was produced by lateral wet-oxidation of AlAs, are studied. Devices with different gate widths were fabricated resulting in different over-oxidation times for the AlAs layer. Three characteristic generation-recombination noise signatures are observed depending on the measurement temperature and the gate bias. A generation-recombination noise signature with energy level at Ec-0.69 eV is found to increase with the amount of over-oxidation time. This near mid-gap trap shows an increase in concentration towards the oxide interface, and it is tentatively assigned to an arsenic-antisite related defect known from previous studies as EB4. A possible mechanism for the formation and the microscopic origin of this defect are discussed.; 1/f interface noise model is applied to analyze the GaAs/buffer interfacial quality. The effective interface state density was found to be as high as 1015 cm-2 and increase with additional over-oxidation. A correlation between the amount of over-oxidation and the number of calculated interface states is observed.; For AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures, low-frequency noise characteristics of AlxGa1-xN/GaN HEMTs with Al composition of 28--35% in the barrier layer are studied. A generation-recombination noise signature is attributed to a trap in AlxGa1-x N barrier layer which increases in concentration towards the Al xGa1-xN/GaN interface. The origin and the location of low-frequency noise were differentiated by the drain current dependent measurement. When the long-channel device is operated with an open channel (e.g. VG = 0), the main noise source resides in the gated channel instead of in the ungated region. Hooge's parameter of the gated channel (alpha ∼ 10-4) is found to be independent of the Al composition but dependent on the AlxGa1-x N barrier thickness. This is proposed to correspond to the onset of barrier relaxation. Even though the AlxGa1-xN/GaN HEMT exhibits a low level of gate leakage current (<1% of drain current), the low-frequency noise is still heavily influenced by the gate leakage current at certain bias conditions. The effect of gate leakage current on the low-frequency noise properties is discussed. The surface leakage path appeared to dominate the low-frequency noise properties for devices operated at a high IG/ID ratio.