2 MeV ion irradiation effects on AlGaN/GaN HFET devices

Abstract AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs) were irradiated with 2 MeV protons, carbon, oxygen, iron and krypton ions with fluences ranging from 1 × 10 9  cm −2 to 1 × 10 13  cm −2 . DC, pulsed I – V characteristics, loadpull and S -parameters of the AlGaN HFET devices were measured before and after irradiation. In parallel, a thick GaN reference layer was also irradiated with the same ions and was characterized by X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, Hall measurements before and after irradiation. Small changes in the device performance were observed after irradiation with carbon and oxygen at a fluence of 5 × 10 10  cm −2 . Remarkable changes in device characteristics were seen at a fluence of 1 × 10 12  cm −2 for carbon, oxygen, iron and krypton irradiation. Similarly, remarkable changes were also observed in the GaN layer for irradiations with fluence of 1 × 10 12  cm −2 . The results found on devices and on the GaN layer were compared and correlated.