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Ultra-thin double barrier AlGaN/GaN high threshold voltage HEMT with graded AlGaN/Si3N4 gate and p-type buffer layer

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Abstract

An ultra-thin double barrier enhancement mode (E-mode) AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with p-type buffer layer and Si3N4/graded p-AlGaN gate is proposed and investigated by Silvaco TCAD. The simulation results show that the designed HEMT can obtain a high threshold voltage over 5.0 V and large gate swing. The maximum gate leakage current is 3.11 × 10–4 A/mm at 30 V gate voltage, which decreases four orders of magnitude compared to the conventional double barrier HEMTs. Due to the p-type buffer layer, the cut-off frequency for the proposed HEMT is raised over three-times compared to the conventional double barrier structure HEMT with n-type buffer layer. Meanwhile the designed HEMT exhibits high breakdown voltage and large current-gain. Moreover, the impacts of Si3N4 layer thickness under gate and GaN channel layer thickness are analyzed. Both layers play significant roles in obtaining high threshold voltage for the device by adjusting the conduction band energy of AlGaN/GaN interface potential well.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported in part by the Natural Science Foundation of the Anhui Higher Education Institutions (2022AH051125, 2022AH051098, KJ2021A1087), in party by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62241401).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou, 239000, China

    Kexiu Dong, Yangyi Zhang, Bingting Wang & Wenjuan Yu

  2. School of Information and Electronic Engineering, Shandong Technology and Business University, Yantai, 264005, Shandong, China

    Yanli liu

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  1. Kexiu Dong
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  2. Yangyi Zhang
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Correspondence to Kexiu Dong.

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Dong, K., Zhang, Y., Wang, B. et al. Ultra-thin double barrier AlGaN/GaN high threshold voltage HEMT with graded AlGaN/Si3N4 gate and p-type buffer layer. J Comput Electron 22, 1024–1030 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-023-02063-3

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