AlGaN/GaN Metal Oxide Semiconductor High-Electron Mobility Transistors with Annealed TiO₂ as Passivation and Dielectric Layers

This paper reports on improved AlGaN/GaN metal oxide semiconductor high-electron mobility transistors (MOS-HEMTs). TiO₂ is used to form the dielectric and passivation layers. The TiO₂ film is characterized using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The quality of the gate oxide is improved by annealing at 300 °C in N₂. Experimental results indicate that the annealed MOS structure effectively reduces the gate leakage current. The high performance of the annealed MOS-HEMTs and their stable operation at elevated temperatures up to 450 K is demonstrated. Furthermore, annealing improves their output power characteristics.