Study On TCAD Simulation Of AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor

Due to the excellent property of GaN based semiconductor materials, AlGaN/GaNHigh Electron Mobility Transistor(HEMT) become the ideal choice of microwave highpower devices. But the current collapse effect limits AlGaN/GaN HEMT reliability,and is consequently inhibiting device commercialization. This paper based on theSentaurus simulation platform, studies the AlGaN/GaN HEMT DC outputcharacteristics of the current collapse phenomenon.Firstly, analyses the GaN base of semiconductor materials properties and HEMTdevices work principle, then chooses physical models and adjust the parameters. TheDC electrical characteristics of a conventional structure AlGaN/GaN HEMT device aresimulated, simulation results closely matches the experimental data. The intrinsicmechanism of DC current collapse is qualitatively analysed by considering thequantization effect of2DEG. Simulation results clearly show that hot electrons from2DEG play an important role in the vertical real space transfer and subsequentcaptured by bulk traps. In the last part of this paper, the effect of interface thermalresistance on AlGaN/GaN HEMT self-heating and current collapse is also analysed.