%0 Journal Article
%A Gao, Z.
%A Romero, M. F.
%A Redondo Cubero, A.
%A Pampillón, M. A.
%A San Andrés Serrano, Enrique
%A Calle, F.
%T Effects of Gd2O3 Gate Dielectric on Proton-Irradiated AlGaN/GaN HEMTs
%D 2017
%@ 0741-3106
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/19395
%X AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and MOS-HEMTs using Gd2O3 as gate dielectric were irradiated with 2-MeV protons up to fluence of 1 x 10(15) cm(-2). Results showed that proton irradiation causes a strong degradation in the Schottky gate devices, featured by more than three orders of magnitude increase in reverse leakage current, a 30% decrease in maximum drain current, and the same percentage of increase in ON-resistance, respectively. Scanning transmission electron microscopy showed that radiation induced a diffusion of Ni into Au in the gate and void formation, degrading the transistors' characteristics. The Gd2O3 gate dielectric layer prevented this diffusion and void formation. MOS-HEMTs with Gd2O3 gate dielectric show 50% less decrease of performance under proton irradiation than Schottky gate HEMTs (conventional HEMTs). The trapping effects of Gd2O3 gate layer before and after irradiation are also discussed.
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