AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors on 100 mm silicon substrates by plasma molecular beam epitaxy

GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures have been grown by plasma molecular beam epitaxy on 100 mm diameter ⟨111⟩ silicon substrates. Crack-free films with thicknesses of up to 1.7 μm were deposited without the use of strain-relaxing buffer layers. X-ray measurements indicate high structural uniformity and the Pendellosung oscillations are observed due to the abruptness of the AlGaN/GaN interface. Capacitance-voltage measurements display a sharp pinch-off with a depleted GaN buffer layer and no measurable charge accumulation at the substrate-epi interface. Transmission line measurements on the GaN HEMT buffer and substrate indicate a loss of less than 0.2 dB/mm up to 20 GHz. An average sheet resistance of 443 Ω/sq with a standard deviation of 0.8% and a mobility of 1600 cm2/V s were obtained for an Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN HEMT. Transistors were fabricated with a current density of 1.2 A/mm and a transconductance of 290 mS/mm which is quite comparable to GaN HEMTs on SiC.