The Transition of Threshold Voltage Shift of Al₂O₃ /SiN₄ AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMTs Under Negative Gate Bias Stress From DC to AC

In this study, the reliability issues are discussed under dc and ac negative gate bias stress (ac-NGBS) in Al2O3 /SiN4 metal-insulator-semiconductor high electron mobility transistors (MIS-HEMTs). Converse degradation between these two stress conditions is discovered. The holes generated by trap-assisted thermionic field emission (TA-TFE) are trapped into the Al2O3 layer, so that the threshold voltage ( V-th ) decreases under dc negative gate bias stress (dc-NGBS). V-th increases because of the hot electrons injected into the GaN layer, while the device is turned on quickly under ac-NGBS. In addition, the degradation mechanisms under dc-NGBS and ac-NGBS are confirmed by the OFF-state gate and drain leakages, respectively. Silvaco TCAD is used to validate the degradation mechanism under ac-NGBS. Finally, the characteristics of the V-th shift transition from dc to ac NGBS are discussed.