Effect of Access Region and Field Plate on

Capacitance behavior of GaN HEMT

Khushboo Sharma∗ , Avirup Dasgupta∗ , Sudip Ghosh∗ , Sheikh Aamir Ahsan∗ ,
Sourabh Khandelwal† , and Yogesh Singh Chauhan∗
∗ Nanolab, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India
† ElectricalEngineering and Computer Science, University of California Berkeley, U.S.A.
Email: khushb@iitk.ac.in, chauhan@iitk.ac.in

Abstract—Incorporation of Field Plate in High Electron Mobil-

ity Transistors (HEMTs) improves the device breakdown voltage
but on the other hand, increases the device Capacitance. It has a
direct impact on the device switching characteristics and hence
the study of the capacitive behavior holds supreme importance
for GaN HEMTs power switching application. Also, in GaN
HEMTs, lower values of access region resistance improves the
device output current but at the cost of increase in its capacitance,
CGD . In this paper, using TCAD simulations on a field plated
GaN HEMT, we present the physical explanation for the variation
in C-V characteristics for different access region and field plate
lengths.
Index Terms—GaN HEMTs; Field Plate; Capacitance; Access
Region.

I. I NTRODUCTION
Fig. 1: GaN HEMT structure with a gate field plate. The source to gate length LSG =
GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) have 2μm and gate to drain length LDG = 3μm. The gate field plate length, LGF P =
0.5μm.
drawn unprecedented attention in industry due to their promis-
ing candidature in high frequency and high power applications
[1, 2]. They enjoy several interesting features of III-nitride
efforts have been made to study the C-V characteristics of
system, such as wide bandgap, high 2-DEG charge density,
GaN HEMTs [11] including the effect of field plates [12].
high electron mobility, high breakdown voltage (VBR ) and
Jung et. al. have proposed a model to show the characteristics
excellent thermal conductivity [3–7].
of output capacitance for different field plate sizes and gate
The incorporation of field plate (FP) in GaN HEMTs further
to drain distance [13]. Previously, even we have reported a
increase its VBR [8, 9], which can be maximized with proper
surface-potential based compact model for the capacitance
optimization of FP length and its insulator thickness [10]. FP
of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with field plates [14], for our ASM
also reduces the gate leakage and improves linearity, stability,
HEMT model [15–22]. However, the physical explanation for
reliability and efficiency of the device. The capacitive nature
the capacitance behavior needs more attention.
of a GaN HEMT is also affected by the presence of a FP.
In this paper, we discuss the variation in trends of the Gate-
Addition of FP leads to an increase in the device capacitance
to-source capacitance (CGS ) and Gate-to-drain capacitance
which in turn degrades the device switching characteristics.
(CGD ) with the bias, gate-source voltage (VGS ). TCAD simu-
The gap in GaN HEMTs from the gate edge to the
lations have been carried on a Field Plated GaN HEMT and the
drain/source contact is called the access region. It is found that
physical reasons behind its C−V behavior, for different access
quasi-saturation of the electron velocity occurs in the access
region lengths (LDG ) and gate field plate length (LGF P ) have
regions and effectively, these regions behave like a nonlinear
been analyzed.
resistor. This access region resistance limits the maximum
attainable output current (IDS ) of the device [18]. Also, the The paper is organized as follows: The device structure
change in the access region length and hence the access region under consideration is given in section II and our analysis
resistance has a pronounced effect on the capacitance voltage is presented in section III. We conclude the paper in section
characteristics of GaN HEMTs. IV.
In such a scenario, the study of C − V behavior of a
II. D EVICE S TRUCTURE
field plated GaN HEMT becomes utmost important with the
view of understanding the high frequency performance and In order to analyze various physical quantities so as to get a
switching characteristics of such high power devices. This better understanding of the C −V behavior, TCAD simulations
lays the motivation behind our work. In literature, special are performed on a layered structure consisting of a 25nm

978-1-4799-8364-3/15/$31.00 2015
c IEEE 499
Fig. 2: CGD as a function of gate voltage for different drain side access region lengths
(LDG ). LSG = 2μm, LGF P = 0.5μm and LG = 2μm.
Fig. 4: Intrinsic drain voltage (VK ) vs VGS for different Gate to Drain lengths.

(a)

Fig. 5: CGS as a function of gate voltage for different drain side access region lengths
(LDG ). LSG = 2μm, LGF P = 0.5μm and LG = 2μm.

III. R ESULT AND DISCUSSION

The following subsections describe the effects of LDG and
LGF P respectively, on the C-V characteristics.
(b)
A. Effect of variation in LDG on CGD and CGS
Fig. 3: Electron Concentration in the device for (a) VGS = −7V (below threshold) and
(b) VGS = −5V (above threshold). Below threshold, the channel is depleted of 2-DEG We start our discussion on the data obtained from simulation
charges. As VGS increases, the 2-DEG charge concentration in the channel gradually
increases and hence at VGS = −5V we see charges in the channel.
of the TCAD device shown before. Initially, the simulations
are performed on the device with dimensions as stated above.
A very low drain voltage (VDS = 0.2V ) is applied and CGS
and CGD as a function of VGS are interpreted.
thick AlGaN on a GaN substrate. A 0.2μm thick Si3 N4 Now to understand the trends in CGD with increasing VGS
passivation layer was placed on the top followed by another (Fig. 2), let us consider a point in the channel at the drain
SiO2 passivation layer of thickness 0.4μm. This HEMT edge of the gate field plate. It is called as the intrinsic drain
structure features a source-to-gate length, LSG = 2μm, a gate- of the device. Let the potential of this point be VK and so
to-drain spacing, LDG = 3μm and a gate length, LG = 2μm. our device is considered to be composed of a HEMT in series
The gate field plate length, LGF P = 0.5μm. The device is with access region resistance. Thus, it can also be said that VK
shown in Fig. 1. denotes the drain voltage of a device with LDG = 0. When

500 2015 IEEE International Conference on Electron Devices and Solid-State Circuits (EDSSC)
 ∂Qg (VG , VK , VS ) ∂Qg (VG , VK , VS ) dVK dVK
CGS = − − = CGS(HEM T ) + CGD(HEM T ) (1)
∂VS ∂VK dVS dVS

and hence as a combined effect of this electric field and the

already existing polarization field (both acting in vertically
downward direction), the 2-DEG charge concentration in the
channel gradually increases (Fig. 3a) and hence the gate-to-
drain capacitance (CGD ) also increases. Now to understand
the decrease in CGD with increasing VGS (Region II of Fig.
2), let us consider the potential of the intrinsic drain, VK . It
can be seen that, for a particular LDG , as the gate voltage
increases, to increase the current in the drain access region of
HEMT, VK should decrease as VD is fixed (Fig. 4). Decrease
in VK implies a decrease in the effective VDS of the gated
region (G + GFP) and hence the Gate to Drain capacitance
(CGD ) decreases. Also, as the Gate to Drain distance (LDG )
increases, the drain access region resistance becomes higher
and the drop in VK becomes more significant (Fig. 4) and
hence a decreasing trend in CGD with increasing LDG can be
Fig. 6: CGD as a function of gate voltage for different gate field plate lengths (LGF P ). seen (Fig. 2).
LSG = 2μm, LDG = 3μm and LG = 2μm.
To understand the behavior of CGS with LDG , let us
consider (1) [23].
If there is a slight positive change δVS in the source voltage,
VS , the HEMT current will decrease. Now to decrease the
current in the access region, VK increases as VD is fixed. Thus
dVK
dVS will be positive. Thus from (1), CGS > CGS(HEM T ) .
Now further, as LDG increases, access region resistance in-
creases. Larger the access region resistance, larger should be
the increase in VK and thus CGS is higher for devices with
larger LDG , as shown in Fig. 5.

B. Effect of variation in LGF P on CGS and CGD

We can write CGS,(GD) as
   
∂Qg ∂Qgf p
CGS,(GD) = − + −
∂VS,(D) ∂VS,(D)
     
C1 C2
Fig. 7: CGS as a function of gate voltage for different gate field plate lengths (LGF P ).
LSG = 2μm, LDG = 3μm and LG = 2μm. where Qg is the charge on the gate and Qgf p is the charge
on the gate field plate.
The field plate charge is directly proportional to the length
the gate voltage, VG is around the cut-off voltage (Vof f ), the of the field plate and can be written as LGF P ∗f (VS , VD , VG ),
drain current is negligible and VK ≈ VD , where VD is the which gives C2 = LGF P ∂f (VS∂V,VD ,VG )
S
. Thus for a given bias,
applied drain voltage. In this case any change in LDG has if the length of the gate field plate increases, C2 increases,
no effect on the capacitance behavior as the effective drain to CGS,(GD) increases (the increase in CGS is negligible). The
source voltage, VDS , is constant. This is validated by the plots magnitude of increase depends on the AlGaN thickness below
of CGD and CGS shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5. the field plate. Also, as the field plate length increases, the
The explanation for the rising part of CGD below threshold point VK shifts closer to the drain and hence the drain side
voltage (Region I of Fig. 2) can be validated through the access region resistance of the device decreases. As CGD is
TCAD simulations for electron concentration (Fig. 3a and Fig. higher for a device with lower access region resistance (as
3b). Initially, in the absence of gate voltage or for gate voltages explained in subsection A), there is a net increase in CGD
below threshold, the channel is depleted of 2-DEG charges with increasing LGF P (Fig. 6). Also, a negligible variation in
(Fig. 3b). As the gate voltage increases, the vertical electric CGS is obtained as a result of increase in LGF P and some
field due to gate, acting in downward direction, increases fringing capacitance (Fig. 7).

2015 IEEE International Conference on Electron Devices and Solid-State Circuits (EDSSC) 501
 IV. C ONCLUSION nique for RF-Based AlGaN/GaN HEMTs With a Source-
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