Atomic layer etching-enabled interface engineering for reduced subthreshold swing and improved uniformity in p-channel GaN MOSFETs
Abstract
In this work, enhancement-mode p-MOSFETs on p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN-on-Si substrates were fabricated using a gate recess process that combines reactive ion etching (RIE) with atomic layer etching (ALE), where ALE is employed as an interface engineering approach following conventional plasma etching to mitigate recess-induced interface damage. Compared with RIE-only devices, the RIE + ALE devices yield smoother surfaces and significantly suppress interface trap density. These interface improvements lead to enhanced subthreshold characteristics and markedly tighter device-to-device uniformity. In particular, the subthreshold swing decreased from 365 ± 179 to 149 ± 17 mV/dec, while the off-state leakage current was suppressed from 1.9 ± 3.6 × 10−7 to 8.5 ± 5.5 × 10−9 mA/mm. These results demonstrate that ALE provides an effective interface engineering approach for suppressing interface damage and enabling uniform enhancement-mode p-MOSFETs, highlighting its potential for reliable GaN complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor logic and power integrated circuits.
Article Details
Journal Info
Applied Physics Letters
American Institute of Physics
Authors (14)
Zixian Jiang
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) 1 , Thuwal 23955-6900,
Zhiyuan Liu
Tingang Liu
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) 1 , Thuwal 23955-6900,
Haicheng Cao
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) 1 , Thuwal 23955-6900,
Saravanan Yuvaraja
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) 1 , Thuwal 23955-6900,
Glen Isaac Maciel García
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) , Thuwal 23955-6900,
Chuanju Wang
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) , Thuwal 23955-6900,
Patsy Arely Miranda-Cortez
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) , Thuwal 23955-6900,
Leo Raj Solay
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) , Thuwal 23955-6900,
Kexin Ren
Georgian Melinte
Core Laboratories
Camelia Florica
Mritunjay Kumar
Xiaohang Li
Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Program, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) 1 , Thuwal 23955-6900,