Unified Mechanism for Positive- and Negative-Bias Temperature Instability in GaN MOSFETs

We present a comprehensive study of bias temperature instability (BTI) in GaN MOSFETs under moderate positive and negative gate bias stress. We investigate the evolution of threshold voltage (V T ), maximum transconductance (g m,max ), and subthreshold swing (S). Our results show a universal continu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Guo, Alex, del Alamo, Jesus A.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Format: Article
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2020
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/126167
Description
Summary:We present a comprehensive study of bias temperature instability (BTI) in GaN MOSFETs under moderate positive and negative gate bias stress. We investigate the evolution of threshold voltage (V T ), maximum transconductance (g m,max ), and subthreshold swing (S). Our results show a universal continuous, symmetrical, and reversible VT shift and gm,max change as gate stress voltage (VGS,stress) increases from -5 to 5V at room temperature. The time evolution of V T is well described by a power law model. The voltage dependence, time dependence, and temperature dependence of our results suggest that for moderate gate bias stress, positive BTI and negative BTI are due to a single reversible mechanism. This is electron trapping/detrapping in preexisting oxide traps that form a defect band very close to the GaN/oxide interface and extend in energy beyond the conduction band edge of GaN and below the Fermi level at the channel surface at 0 V.