Engineering Commons^™

Mechanism Of Radio-Frequency Current Collapse In Gan-Algan Field-Effect Transistors, A. Tarakji, Grigory Simin, N. Ilinskaya, X. Hu, A. Kumar, A. Koudymov, J. Yang, M. Asif Khan, M. S. Shur, R. Gaska

Faculty Publications

The mechanism of radio-frequency current collapse in GaN–AlGaN heterojunctionfield-effect transistors(HFETs) was investigated using a comparative study of HFET and metal–oxide–semiconductor HFET current–voltage (I–V) and transfer characteristics under dc and short-pulsed voltage biasing. Significant current collapse occurs when the gate voltage is pulsed, whereas under drain pulsing the I–V curves are close to those in steady-state conditions. Contrary to previous reports, we conclude that the transverse electric field across the wide-band-gap barrier layer separating the gate and the channel rather than the gate or surface leakage currents or high-field effects in the gate–drain spacing is responsible for the current collapse. We …