AlGaN/GaN Power FET
by Seikoh Yoshida *GaN and related compound semiconductors, as well as SiC and diamond, arewide bandgap semiconductors that also have high melting points, and high electric breakdown fields. These materials therefore have potential for the power electronic devices
that can be operated under conditions of high breakdown voltage, high frequency, and high temperature. In Japan, the development of GaN has progressed to fabricate blue light emitting
diodes (LED) and laser diodes (LD). In the U.S.A., research on GaN electronic devices has
already begun. However, recently in Japan, research on GaN electronic devices for high-frequency applications started with the 673 K operation GaN metal semiconductor field effect transistor(MESFET) presented by the Furukawa Electric Co. In this research, we paid attention to theexcellent figures of merit of GaN, which can be operated under conditions of high current andhigh breakdown voltage, and successfully performed high-current operation (20 A) of an
AlGaN/GaN hetero FET for the first time. The minimum on-state resistance (Ron) was 2 mΩcm2 at
100 V. This is the lowest value for a GaN-based FET, and corresponds to one-quarter of that of
Si-devices.

ABSTRACT1.

INTRODUCTION

In the 21st century, environmental measures such as
reducing CO2 emissions have been demanded in energy
development. Si switching devices are generally used aselectric power converting devices. To reduce power loss,
the density of Si device integration has become satisfactorily high. As a result, the on-state resistance of a Si metaloxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET)
reached the theoretical limit of Si. On the other hand, widebandgap semiconductors such as SiC, GaN, and diamondalso have a wide bandgap, small atomic binding distance,large binding energy (strong for radiation damage), andthermal stability. They therefore have great potential as
hard electronic materials which exceed Si 1).
Suitable material properties for a hard electronic material include breakdown electric field, saturation velocity,
thermal conductivity, mobility, and dielectric constant.
Figures of merit 2~6) combined with these material properties for high power, high speed, high frequency, and low
loss have already been reported. GaN also has excellent
figures of merit compared with those of Si and GaAs 7).
In particular, it should be noted that the on-state resistance of GaN FET can be remarkably reduced to less thanthat of Si MOSFET by a two or three order of magnitude,
and GaN FET has potential for low-loss and cooling free
power switching devices and inverters, which are difficult
to realize using Si devices. The uses of high-temperature*

Basic Technology Research Center, Yokohama R&D
Laboratories

devices are high-temperature sensor, aircraft, space rocket engine controller, atomic energy equipment, and measuring instruments for underground exploration. The good
features of high-temperature operation devices are thatthey do not require a large cooling system to suppress
heat (or the cooling system is very small).
Recently, GaN electronic devices have been actively
developed in the U.S.A. Also in the U.S.A., several venture companies selling and manufacturing GaN electronic
devices have recently been established. Furthermore, Air
Force and Naval Research have also been actively
researching military applications. Other uses of GaN electronic devices are electric power switching devices suchas inverters, converters, relay switching devices, andhigh-frequency devices.
Among high-temperature operation devices, metal semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFET) 8~10), hetero
field effect transistors (HFET) 11), and modulation doped
field effect transistors (MODFET) 12) have already beenreported. Not only in the U.S.A. but also in Japan, highfrequency devices such as high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) and HFET using an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure and two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) have beendeveloped, and the maximum frequency for operation isover 130 GHz. This report describes the fabrication of
AlGaN/GaN power HFET and how we obtained a very low
on-state resistance (2 mΩcm2) with a value that corresponds to one-quarter of that of Si MOSFET.
Furthermore, it is reported that AlGaN/GaN HFET was
operated under conditions of 20 A, and the maximum
Schottky breakdown voltage of gate and source was 600
V.

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2.

FABRICATION OF MESFET FOR HIGHCURRENT OPERATIONFirst, we fabricated a structually simple MESFET for large
current operation 13~19). Figure 1 is a schematic drawing of a
GaN MESFET. A 50 nm-thick GaN buffer layer wasformed on the substrate using ammonia (NH 3 ) as thenitrogen source and a trymethylgallium (TMG) at a lowtemperature, such as 873 K. An undoped 2000 nm-thick
GaN layer with high resistivity was grown on a GaN buffer
layer at 1323 K to obtain a high-quality GaN active layer
with a thickness of 200 nm. The GaN active layer with acarrier concentration of 2.0×1017 cm-3 and a mobility of
300 cm2/Vsec at room temperature were used to fabricate
the MESFET. A 100 nm thick Si-doped layer forms thecontact layer. The Si concentration of the contact layer is
2×1019 cm-3.
The GaN was etched by a dry-etching technique using
an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma to makethe FET. The etching gas was a mixture of CH4 (5 sccm),
Ar (7 sccm), and H 2 (15 sccm). The microwave input
power was 250 W and the DC bias voltage was 250 V.
The etching rate of Si-doped and undoped GaN layers
was 14 nm/min. The etching depth of GaN was about 400
nm for isolation. Furthermore, the contact layer wasetched to provide the recessed gate structure. The intervalof the recessed structure was 20000 nm and the etcheddepth was 150 nm. After patterning using a photoresist
combined with a SiO2 mask, we formed a source and a

Drain
Gate

1E-1

Contact layer
1E-2

Rc (ohm • cm2)

Sourcedrain using Al/Ti/Au, and a Schottky gate as Pt/Au on patterned GaN samples using the ECR sputter evaporation
method. The distance between the source and the drain
was 30000 nm. The gate length of the GaN MESFET was2000 nm. Source, drain, and gate electrodes of 40 unit
FETs were connected using Al/Au, to obtain high-current
operation. SiO2 was used to isolate source, drain, andgate electrodes. Figure 2 is a Nomalski microphotographof a FET connected to 40 unit FETs for high-current operation. The total gate width was 2 cm. Furthermore, four
unit FETs, as shown in Figure 2, were connected by wirebonding. As a result, the total gate width was 8 cm.
Figure 3 shows the relation between the contact resistivity of ohmic electrode materials (Al/Ti/Au) and the Siconcentration of the GaN contact layer. We obtained theohmic contacts without thermal annealing. The contact
resistivity was 1×10-6 Ωcm2 at a Si concentration of 2×1019
cm-3. It was thus confirmed that the contact resistivity
decreased as Si concentration increased. Figure 4 shows
the Schottky property between the gate and the source.
The breakdown voltage was over 500 V. The maximum
breakdown voltage was 600 V. The drain-source current(Ids) as a function of the drain-source voltage (Vds) as an
FET was also obtained without cooling, as shown in
Figure 5. The gate voltage (Vgs) was changed from 0 V to
-7 V in steps of -1 V. It was found that this FET can be
operated above 5 A. The on-state resistance was about
2.7 Ω. The transconductance (gm) was about 12 mS/mm.
The pinch-off voltage was about -8 V. The sheet resistivity

Active layer
Insulator

High resistive GaN buffer
GaN buffer

1E-4
1E-5
1E-6

Sapphire Sub.

Figure 1

1E-3

1E-7
1E+16

Schematic drawing of a GaN MESFET.

1E+17

1E+18

1E+19

1E+20

Carrier conentration (cm-3)
Multi-finger Drain

Figure 3

Ohmic contact resistivity versus carrier concentration of the GaN contact layer.
1.0

IGS (A)

Multi-finger Gate

0

30 µm

-1.0
-500

Figure 28

Nomarski micrograph of a GaN MESFET for high-current operation.

0500

VGS (V)

Multi-finger Source

Figure 4

Schottky property between the gate and source electrodes.

Furukawa Review, No. 21

2002

of a highly resistive undoped GaN layer was about 1×10-6Ω/cm2.
To investigate whether or not electrode materials diffused into the GaN layer at 673 K, we observed the interface of the GaN MESFET using secondary ion mass
spectrometry (SIMS). We also observed, using a transmission electron microscope (TEM), that the interface ofthe electrode materials and the GaN layer was notdeformed. No degradation of the interfaces of Ti, Al, Au,
and GaN layers was observed. The interfaces of the Pt,
Au, and GaN layers were not deformed. Furthermore, it
was confirmed that the isolating reaction of SiO2 and electrode metal, such as Al, Ti, and Au, was not observed.
Based on these results, it was confirmed that a GaN MESFET with the above-mentioned structure is effective forhigh-current devices.
Furthermore, we fabricated a GaN MESFET with a gate
width of 20 cm and a gate length of 2000 nm. The distance between source and drain was reduced to 15000
nm. We confirmed that this FET can be operated at above
10 A by cooling it with a fan. Also, the breakdown voltageof the gate and the source was over 500 V. Based on theabove-mentioned results, it was confirmed that the GaN
MESFET can be operated under conditions of high current
and high breakdown voltage.

3.

film of GaN was grown using Ga and ammonia gas on the
GaN buffer layer at 1073 K. An Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 N/GaN heterostructure was also grown using ammonia gas at 1073
K. The thickness of undoped Al0.2Ga0.8N was 30 nm andthat of undoped GaN was 2000 nm.
Next, we fabricated an HFET having the schematic
structure shown in Figure 6. The GaN and Al0.2Ga0.8N
were etched using a dry-etching technique with an ECR
plasma to make the FET. The etching gas was a mixtureof CH4 (5 sccm), Ar (7 sccm) and H2 (15 sccm). The etching rate of GaN layers was 14 nm/min. The etching depthof GaN was about 400 nm for isolation. Furthermore, thecontact layer of a Si-doped GaN layer with a carrier concentration of 5×1019 cm-3 was selectively grown in theregion of the source and the drain. After patterning using aphotoresist combined with a SiO 2 mask, we formed asource and a drain using Al/Ti/Au, and a Schottky gate as
Pt/Au on a patterned GaN sample using an ECR sputter
evaporation method. Figure 7 shows a schematic crosssectional drawing of AlGaN/GaN HFET for high-current
operation. The distance between the source and the drain
was 6000 nm. The gate length was 2000 nm. Source,
drain, and gate electrodes of 400-unit FETs were connected using Al/Au, respectively, to obtain high-current operation. SiO2 was used to isolate source, drain, and gateelectrodes. The total gate width was 20 cm. The area of
the FET was about 0.15 cm2.
The Hall mobility of the AlGaN/GaN layer was about1200 cm2/Vs and the sheet carrier density was 1×1013 cm-2
at room temperature. We investigated the relation
between contact resistance and carrier concentration of
the contact layer. Ohmic contacts were obtained underconditions without thermal annealing. The lowest contact

AlGaN/GaN POWER HFET

An AlGaN/GaN heterostructure was grown using a
GSMBE 18~21). First, a Ga-rich surface was formed on a sapphire substrate surface. A 50 nm-thick GaN buffer layer
was then formed on a Ga-rich surface at 973 K. A thickundoped AlGaN

5

SourceIds (A)

4

Si-doped GaN
Gate

Drain

3

undoped GaN

2

GaN buffer

1

Sapphire Sub.

0
0

10

20

Vds (V)

Figure 5

Figure 6

Current-voltage characteristics (Ids-Vds) of a GaN
MESFET with a gate width of 8 cm. The gate voltages
were changed from 0V to -8 V in steps of -1 V.

SourceGate connection electrode (Al/Au)

Contact

Schematic drawing of an AlGaN/GaN HFET.

AlGaN layer

Gate

2DEG

SiO2
High resistive GaN buffer
GaN buffer
Sapphire Sub.

Figure 7

Schematic cross-sectional drawing of AlGaN/GaN power HFET.

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200

5
4
3

150

Ids (mA/mm)

Igs (mA)

2
1
0
-1

100

-2
50

-3
-4
-5

0
-400

0

400

0

5

Vgs (V)

Schottky property of gate and source of an
AlGaN/GaN HFET.

resistance was 3.5×10-8 Ωcm2 at a carrier concentration of
5×1019 cm-3. We also investigated the breakdown voltage
of a highly resistive undoped GaN layer by removing the
AlGaN layer, because a highly resistive layer is important
for the high breakdown voltage of an FET. Electrodes witha 10000 nm gap were fabricated on the undoped GaN
buffer layer. It was also confirmed that an undoped GaN
layer had a high breakdown voltage above 2000 V. The
breakdown field of an undoped GaN layer was estimatedto be 2.0 MV/cm. Figure 8 shows a Schottky property
between the gate and the source. The breakdown voltage
was over 550 V. The maximum breakdown voltage was
600 V. We observed through a secondary electron microscope (SEM) that the AlGaN/GaN layer was not damaged
after supplying 600 V, although only the Shottky electrodewas broken by a high electric field. That is, the
AlGaN/GaN layer had sufficient strength for a high voltage. It is expected that the breakdown voltage will be further increased by improving electrode materials.
Figure 9 shows the current-voltage property of a oneunit AlGaN/GaN HFET. The drain-source current (Ids) was
measured in the range from 0 mA to 100 mA. The gate
voltage (Vgs) was changed from 0 V to -5 V in steps of -1
V. The pinch-off voltage was about -5 V. In our measurement system, we could not observe the current to 100 mA,
because the current limit was 100 mA. We also measured
with a curve-tracer that the saturation current (Ids) at Vgs =0 V was 330 mA/mm. The maximum transeconductance(gm) was about 120 mS/mm. This property was very stable. This FET was also operated above 100 V of the drainsource voltage (Vds). The specific on-state resistance (Ron)was estimated to be about 2 mΩcm2. This Ron was lower
than that of Si devices 21). The specific on-resistance of SiMOSFET was about 10 mΩcm2 at a breakdown voltage of
100 V. It was confirmed that the specific on-resistance ofan AlGaN/GaN HFET was lower than that of a Si MOSFET.
To measure the high-current operation of the
AlGaN/GaN HFET, we carried out wire-bonding for the
HFET. Figure 10 shows the Ids-Vds property of the HFET.
The HFET was operated above an Ids of 10 A. The maximum Ids was about 20 A. This was the highest of the previously reported values 20) . The on-state resistance for10

Figure 91520

Current-voltage property of a unit AlGaN/GaN HFETat room temperature. The gate voltage (Vgs) waschanged from 0 V to -5 V in steps of -1 V.

10

Ids (A)

Figure 810

Vds (V)

5

0
0

5

10

Vds (V)

Figure 10 Current-voltage property of an AlGaN/GaN HFET
under high- current operation. The gate voltage (Vgs)
was changed from 0 V to -7 V.

high-current operation was 40 mΩcm2, and the breakdown voltage was 100 V. The on-state resistance of thisFET is slightly higher than that of a unit FET. This is why
all 400-unit FETs were not completely operated due tosurface defects in the epitaxial wafer and the fabrication
accuracy of the FET. This problem can be solved by
improving the epitaxial wafer and the accuracy of the fabrication process. Based on these results, it was confirmedthat an AlGaN/GaN HFET with the above-mentioned
structure is effective for large-current devices. This HFET
is very promising for low-loss power switching devices
such as inverters or converters.

4.

SUMMARY

A high-power AlGaN/GaN HFET for high-current operation
was fabricated for the first time. An AlGaN/GaN heterostructure was grown by GSMBE. The total gate widthof the HFET was 20 cm and the gate length was 2000 nm.
Gate, source, and drain were isolated using SiO2. The distance between the source and the drain was 6000 nm.
The electrode materials of the source and the drain were
Al/Ti/Au, and the Schottky electrodes were Pt/Au. The
maximum breakdown voltage of gate and source was 600
V. An undoped GaN layer had a high breakdown voltage
above 2000 V and the breakdown field of the undoped

Furukawa Review, No. 21

2002

GaN layer was 2 MV/cm. The on-state resistance of a unit
HFET was 2 mΩcm2. The maximum operation current ofan HFET with a 20 cm in gate width was 20 A. An HFET
for high-current operation was thus demonstrated. GaN
based FETs are therefore excellent for low-loss powerswitching devices.

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Manuscript received on November 22, 2001.

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